Her Angel, His Strength
by MelYu
Summary: "'Angel.' She said, barely a whisper. A voice that was not used in a long time for words just screams. A tear slid down her face and a ghost of a smile traced her lips. He did not answer, though his features turned dark." The story of how a woman crawled her way into the Dixons hearts.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

 **Her Angel, His Strength**

 **1 Days Gone Bye**

The sudden light forced her to close her eyes. _Not again_ , she thought. Normally they would leave her alone until nighttime. She curled into herself as a wave of wind swept into the room.

"Shit, she's alive." A voice sounded. It was not one of the voices she got used to hearing; it had a thick accent from Georgia. Opening her eyes again, she tried to see who it was, but all she could see was the silhouette of a man. _A man_. Shivers ran down her spine at the thought of that. Maybe it was an angel, finally coming to free her, maybe he would leave her there for her captors, _or maybe_ , a voice in her head sounded _, he'd do worse and kill her afterwards_. The thought brought a smile on her face. Death would be a welcome for her.

"Bet she wishes she wasn't." A new voice sounded behind the first man who had come a few steps into the room and was quickly scanning her with his eyes. "There's a bag there in the corner. I'll see if I can fin' somethin' useful around."

The first man got a few of her clothes and dressed her. She could make his features now; he was at least in his thirties, dirty blond hair and a mole in the corner of his mouth. No one had ever looked so beautiful to her. Daryl was also looking at her, though he did not think her beautiful. She was skin and bones, thin hair, pale as a ghost. Bruises and dry blood marked all of her body. Especially in between her thighs. One eye could not open fully, and there was a long scar on the side of her torso.

After finishing dressing her, he got her bag, the first aid kit and its contents that were laying on the floor and carefully picked her up. A whimper escaped her lips at the pain that irradiated through her whole body forcing Daryl to look at her. Her left hand came to rest on his cheeks, gently caressing it.

"Angel." She said, barely a whisper. A voice that was not used in a long time for words just screams. A tear slid down her face and a ghost of a smile traced her lips. He did not answer, though his features turned dark.

"Ya take care of it?" He asked to the man who was checking a bow on the other room of the cabin.

"Yep, ya have fun explainin' _that_." Daryl muttered something under his breath, turned around and walked out into the forest. Her eyes remained fixed on his face until sleep came over.

Her eyes flicked open and it took her a while to gather her bearings. She was in some kind of car, apparently, with bandages on her hands and a cover upon her body. When she turned her head, he was there. Her angel. Her memories came fast after that. She tried siting up but her ribs protested against the movement, Daryl gently pushed her shoulders down again.

"Ya're safe now. Stop movin'." His voice was commanding, of someone who did not take no easily. She opened her mouth to thank him though the dryness of her throat made her cough. "Here." He handled a glass of what she assumed was water to her mouth and helped her up a little. When she first swallowed, though, she could taste the saltiness and turned her head to her side. "It's some shit ya gotta drink. They don't think ya can eat stuff yet."

She nodded and tried to drink a little more, ignoring the taste. While locked in that room, she usually got a glass of water with a chunk of meat every other day, so she was thirstier than she ever had been before.

"Thank you." She said, after drinking her fill. He nodded, though she did not see it, as her eyes were already closing again.

The next time she woke up, her angel was nowhere to be seen, but a blond woman was tending to her wounds. When she noticed, she stopped her work and smiled.

"Hey. I'm Andrea." When she did not reply, Andrea pressed on. "We are just outside Atlanta now; Daryl brought you into our camp two days ago." Two days ago? Had she slept two entire days? She tried getting up, but much like Daryl, Andrea gently pushed her back into the bed. "Is there something you need? I can get it for you."

"Toilet." She said, and like the other times when she tried to speak, her voice came raspy, just above a whisper. Andrea nodded, and helped her get up and into the bathroom.

Once back into the bed, Andrea handed her a pack of crackers and a bottle of water saying she needed to start eating lightly first. She nodded and thanked the woman before she left.

"No problem. Rest up for now." Andrea smiled gently, exiting the RV.

She met Andrea's sister Amy, Jacqui and Glenn. They were nice, with Amy telling her all about their camp and most of their stories. She told her how everyone was surprised when Daryl came back with her. Apparently, Daryl was not one to do nice things for others.

"I suppose he's better than his brother, though you should try to stay away from them." She blinked, but didn't respond. Amy was used to that though, and went on talking. Daryl had not come see her again, but she knew he wasn't a bad person. He was the one that saved her, she owned him her life.

Jacqui was sweet, never trying to make her talk. She was usually the one who would bring her something to eat, check her wounds and temperature. Glenn was fun, bringing her books and sometimes talking about his life before. Even though Amy was nice, it was with Glenn that she talked more, telling him a bit about herself. He was a good listener and never made her feel uncomfortable.

A few days later, Andrea asked her if she would like to take a bath, so bracing herself against the blond sisters, she exited for the first time the security of the RV. She could feel eyes on her all the way down to the pond, though she never looked up from the ground. Andrea stood guard while Amy helped her bath. The water was freezing against her skin, however the feeling was so good she relished every minute of it.

After finished, Andrea and Amy helped her sit against a tree. She would prefer getting back in the car, but she knew she couldn't hide forever. Glenn came over to keep her company until lunchtime and she was glad for it, for it seemed to keep others away. She was grateful for them, but she was not ready to look at the pity in their eyes, or answer the questions they were bound to make.

For the first time she ate with them, never lifting her eyes from her plate. Daryl was sitting away from her with his brother, Merle, the other man who had been in the cabin with them when he found her. She wanted to ask what he did to Mark and Leon, her captures, but she could not bring herself to ask in from of every one.

"What is your name?" A child's voice asked her. The hand holding her fork in front of her mouth trembled so she brought it back to the plate.

"Stop pestering her, Carl. Let the girl eat in peace." A woman said. From what Amy had told her, this was Carl's mother, Lori, or Lora, she could not remember. Focusing on Carl, she answered:

"My name is Lily."

It seemed everyone was shocked at her answer. She tried not to make eye contact with anyone. She did not know why everyone was so surprised. She always answered all the questions Amy, Andrea or Glenn made her. They just never asked for her name and she never saw reason to tell.

"It's a beautiful name." A man with a hat said with a gentle smile on his face. She knew him to be the owner of the RV where she was staying, but could not remember his name. She smiled and finished eating, asking silently for Glenn, who had also finished his plate, to help her back to her bed, where she stayed for the rest of the day. Amy brought her diner, asking if she wanted to come outside with the rest of them, but she could not face them again so soon.

The next day, she walked out of the car and made her way towards what she thought to be Daryl and Merle's tent. Getting closer she saw her bow and arrows sitting against a fallen tree and her eyes widened. Forgetting about talking to them, she made a beeline towards it. She thought for sure it was gone now.

Picking it up with the most careful hands, she studied it for a few seconds, making sure it was still in good conditions. While she knew how to make another one, it certainly would not be as decent as this one.

"Is it yours?"

Startled, she turned her head at the voice so quickly her neck hurtled. Upon seeing Daryl, her heart beat calmed and she forced her breaths back to normal.

"Yes." He nodded and sat down by her side, starting to gut a few squirrels. After a few minutes of silence, he looked at her again, seeing the saddest expression on her face as she watched him clean up their next meal. With a snort, he waved her away.

"Don't ya have nothin' ta do?" So apparently, she was not wanted around. Trying to mask the hurt on her face, she nodded, grabbing her bow and quiver, and stood to leave.

The next day she woke up earlier than ever before in this camp. Felling almost back to normal, she decided it was time to help cooperate around camp to earn her keep. Lily left the RV silently, with her bow and quiver on her back, and made her way to the border where the perimeter was set.

She had not walked two steps when someone whistled sharply. Turning around she came to face with an amused Merle and a pissed off Daryl.

"The hell ya think ya goin'?" The latter of the two snarled at her. Surprised at seeing them awake and at the anger in his voice, she hesitated to answer. "Git back ta camp."

"I was… Going to check on the plants." She finally said. The anger was replaced by confusion and then annoyance, though at her or at his brother, who left out a bark of laugher, she did not know.

"Look the girlie is fine enough now ta miss her lil' flowers." Merle said looking at her in a way that would have send her running, had she not know he helped Daryl save her.

"Git back ta camp." Daryl said again. She chose to ignore him and continue her way. They followed her after a colourful curse words from the younger brother. "The hell ya wanna with plants?"

"I know some to be useful for food, or medicines, even soaps… Some's that also can make you-" Lily stopped abruptly realising what she was about to say. A blush crept into her face as she turned away from them. It did not escape Merle's eyes as he whistled amused.

"Some shroom for us, hum? Ya deceived ol' Merle here for a moment, sweetcheeks." Her face felt even hotter than before, but she did not make to reply. "Do ya even know how ta work that bow of yours?"

She nodded, and seeing the doubtful expression on both of their faces, she brought her bow to her hand, grabbed an arrow and stood in position, looking for something to shoot. Finding it, she released the arrow and watched it pin a tree. Merle went over to retrieve it, saying with a sarcastic voice:

"Dontcha worry, sweetcheeks, it's not that…" His voice trailed off when he saw the three leaves attached to the end of the tip of the arrow. Raising his eyebrows, he eyed her up with an amused smile on his face. "Well, ya can do ya flower thing while baby brother and I go catch us a thumper or two."

Apparently, they had a system. Merle would go left, Daryl right, circle back and meet up later to go back to camp. Lily was just going straight ahead when Daryl huffed and grabbed her arm for her to follow him. She did so silently, and the two went on without words spoken. That did not mean she could not feel his anger towards her. She was confused about it; did he think her incapable of being alone in the woods? _Of course, he had his reasons for thinking like that_ , she thought ruefully, _with the way the two first met_.

Daryl would always stop and wait for her when she found something that she thought useful, and, when she asked for a knife, he gave her his without questioning it.

"Keep it." He said when she returned it to him. Lily titled her head in confusion, but did not ask. She figured him to be the dark, silent type. They did not meet with Merle on the way back, though it seemed Daryl was not concerned.

Back at camp, they came across him sitting on the log cleaning up his catches. When Merle looked up at them, he smirked at the amount of plants on her arms.

"Found us some good, sweetcheeks?" Lily blushed again and bit her lip, walking away without answering him to the front of the RV to start working on her findings. It would take a day in the very least for a few homemade medications and soaps to be done, but she figured it was a good start.

After dinner that night, she made her way silently towards the Dixon's tent. Both of them were sitting in front of their fire, their talking coming to an abruptly end when they noticed her presence. She made no comment about it, and thrusted her closed fist towards Merle. With an arched eyebrow, he started to say something when she opened her hand.

For the first time since the dead started walking, Lily laughed. The mushrooms she found induced it, but it was such a nice feeling she could not bring herself to care. Even Daryl was laughing about something Merle had said.

She talked more than she did when lucid, but she could not seem to stop. It was different than talking with Glenn, perhaps because, even though today was the first day she had seen them after they rescued her, she knew she was safe with the brothers. Lily knew the rest of their group had a dislike for them, but to her, it was completely misplaced.

Merle stories were terrible, generally with different random women, but she thought him funny. Daryl, although still quiet and opting to listen more than talk, also told her a few of his stories while hunting back at his hometown.

She told them about her family, how she did not know where they could be, she told them what she used to do before, and how she was a completely different person then. Merle found it hard to believe when she said she used to be a people person.

"I swear I was fun!" Daryl snorted at this, nonetheless she smiled at him. She didn't remember falling asleep, but a few hours later, she could feel Daryl spooning her on his sleeping bag. Shifting, she tried to get out and go back to the RV, but his grip on her tightened slightly.

"Stop ya squirmin'." Therefore, she complied and fell back asleep with a smile.

The next day she woke up alone in the tent. Luckily, no one appeared to notice where she slept that night, though Dale asked her if she had trouble sleeping seeing he woke up and she wasn't in her usual place, on the passenger sit of his car.

After finishing her soaps and a few pastes of natural antibiotics, she started to distribute them to the people in camp. Most were surprised of her hidden abilities, though no one asked more about it, knowing she did not like to talk all that much. Glenn asked, but she was okay with him and explained how her grandmother used to teach her a lot about how the nature could take care of her if there was ever a time she would need.

Shane interrupted their conversation announcing to the whole camp about their need to make a trip to Atlanta for resources. She was surprised when Merle volunteered, and by his expression, so was Daryl. They agreed to leave the next day.

After lunch, Merle approached her and asked her to follow him towards their tent. His serious expression made her nervous about what he wanted.

"Baby brother n I were talkin' abou' leavin' this camp when I come back." Her surprised expression made him smirk towards her. "Whatcha think, sweetcheeks? Ya comin' with us?"

"But, why? Where'd we go?"

"The animals are startin' ta come more n more towards camp. Why do ya think it's?" He didn't let her answer. "These people are thinkin' it's safe now, but ya more smart than that, aren't ya? So, ya comin'?" She knew she would. She really cared about Glenn, she liked Amy, Andrea and Jacqui, and even Dale, but she felt safer with the Dixons. When she acquiesced, Merle smirked even wider, and eyed her up and down. "If ya wanna come with us, ya better learn ta watch yaself. Throw me a punch."

Lily blinked, completely torn.

"What?"

"C'me on girly, let me see watcha can do."

"I will not punch you, Merle!"

"Why not?"

"What if I hurt you?" At that, Merle threw his head back and laughed, attracting the attentions of others who looked on in curiosity.

"Ya couldn't hurt me if ya wanted." Frowning, she gave him a blow in his stomach. Merle gasped and bent over, covering his belly with both hands.

"Oh no, Merle? Are you ok? I'm so sorry, let me see." Daryl, who had come back from the pound where he was cleaning his bolts, looked with a puzzled expression at the two who were now the centre of the attention of the camp.

"That was the girliest punch I have ever seen! There's a lot ta work on ya sweetcheeks!" Merle said while straightening himself and laughing aloud at her face. Lily scowled and stomped back towards Glenn who was watching in amazement.

"What was that about?"

"Merle being Merle."

The next morning, she gave Glenn a hug, with the request of him coming back safe and walked over to Andrea and Jacqui.

"Could you… Hm… I need some…"

"Don't worry, if we find any, we'll bring back." Jacqui said while Andrea had an amused smile on her face.

"Thanks." Lily said.

She saw Daryl and Merle saying their goodbyes, and walked over. When Merle saw her coming, he smirked and said in a hushed voice:

"Ya should be ready ta go when I come back, sweetcheeks." She nodded biting her lip. She would miss Glenn the most. "Any request?"

"Just come back safe." She said and saw the surprise wash his face. He laughed her off, saying only a Dixon could kill a Dixon, and walked towards the van where the others were waiting.

"Ya seem close." Daryl voice sounded so close she jumped, startled.

"Merle is a nice guy if you give him a chance." She answered with a smile. Daryl frowned at her, and stalked back towards the woods. Confused, she hurried after him, stopping at the RV to grab her bow and quiver. "Hey, wait up!"

He slowed down when he noticed her following, though his frown never left his face. Together, they made their way towards the trail of a buck.

* * *

This is my first The Walking Dead fic, it's unfinished, meaning sometimes it'll take longer for me to post a new chapter, and you'll notice that the chapters follow the ones of the show. It'll follow its storyline, focusing on Lily' and Daryl's relationship.

The stories I write is mostly to myself, but I've decided to post this one for feedback, which means **I will not continue if there's no reviews** , as I see no reason to if there's no one reading.

English is not my mother tongue, so there will be mistakes, if you find one, please let me know. That said, obviously I have no idea how to write the characters accents, though from the fanfics I've read, Daryl and Merle are the ones with the most different one. I tried, but please excuse me if it was done wrong. You can always feedback me and I'll try to correct it.

Thank you,

Mel.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

 **Her Angel, His Strength**

 **2 Guts**

Daryl walked so silently, that if she were to stop looking at him, she would probably get lost. While she could walk quietly in the woods, it was nothing compared to him, as sometimes she'd accidentally step on a twig, or crouch on dead leaves, but he never complained.

They had been following some trail of a buck Daryl had picked up a day ago. He had killed a few squirrels; however, she always made a point of not looking, as it always made her sad. She knew they need it to eat, and she was okay with it already skinned, but she could not bear to watch it. It seemed to amuse Daryl; nonetheless, he never called her on it. For that, she was grateful, as she was sure Merle would.

The sky was getting dark when Daryl suddenly motioned for her to stop. She knew they were far into the woods, and unless they walked all night, they wouldn't make it back to camp that day.

"We sleep here." He said, and she nodded, walking around to gather a few sticks for a fire while he started to skin two squirrels for them.

They ate in silence, neither uncomfortable with it. She appreciated the fact that Daryl did not have the need of pointless chatter to fill in the silence. While she enjoyed it with Glenn, it wasn't something she needed to fell contended.

"Ya said ya didn't know what happened to your family." It was a statement, so she just nodded. "Ya think they alive?" It was a cruel question, he knew that, but there was no way around it. He knew she could survive in the woods with her knowledge of the plants and she could defend herself with her choice weapon, but he had never seen her kill anything, in fact, she'd always cringe when one of his bolts found its prey, therefore he guessed she had never even killed a walker. She was a petite woman, young and frail looking. The first time he saw her walking around camp, he knew she'd be one of the first to go.

"I was the most dependent one of my family. So I'm sure that if I made it, there's no reason for them to be dead." He didn't voice his doubts on the matter, knowing it'd be pointless. She could use some hope even if he didn't have any. "Though I doubt I'll ever see them again…" She whispered into the night, holding her legs to her chest.

"Why?"

"They live in London." She said with a sad smile. "If I survive this and if we get back some kind of civilization… I'd need an airplane or in the least a ship to go back home." Now he understood her accent, he knew it was one he had never heard before. "Do you think this thing went all the way there?"

"Don't know." He thought that it probably did. Otherwise, there would be some kind of help, wouldn't it?

"Do you think they are back yet?"

"I suppose."

"Why did Merle volunteer? He told me you wanted to leave."

"His fix. Dumb ass is probably gettin' killed." She was surprised that Merle managed to use that kind of stuff with everything going on. He had better learn how to cope without it for she knew it would go back to bite him down the road.

"Nothing can kill Merle but Merle." She said quietly and a small smirk came to Daryl's face, though it disappeared soon after.

"Ya seem smitten by him." It sounded so much like an accusation she was startled.

"Smitten? Oh no, I just like his company." He glanced warily her way, biting his thumbnail.

"Must be the first."

"Why do you seem so against of my friendship with him?" Daryl shrugged and made no reply, refusing to meet her eyes. He did not know why he was against it. There were times he enjoyed it, like when the three of them talked into the night and she fell asleep in his sleeping bag. However, other times, when he saw Merle laughing at her punch, or when he kissed her forehead soundly and sloppy before going out to Atlanta, he got a strange tightening felling inside his belly. He did not like that feeling more than he liked how he seemed so attune with her actions. He did not like how his eyes would seek her out in camp before and after going for a hunt, he certainly did not like how close she was with the china kid, and he hated how comfortable it was for him to fall asleep with her against him. Ignoring those thoughts, he grunted:

"Git ta sleep." She nodded and rested against a tree, its roots serving as her bed. "I'll take first watch." She nodded again and closed her eyes, willing the sleep to come.

When Lily awoke, the sun was already up on the sky and Daryl was thrusting a cereal bar in her face as a good morning. She ate still half-asleep and watched with half lidden eyes as he gathered their things. When she asked why he didn't wake her up for her watch time, he merely shrugged and told her to hurry up.

They continued their track of the buck until they stopped into a clearing. It was such a beautiful set that Lily stopped breathing for a while. Daryl glanced her way when he noticed but made no comment about it. Her face said it all. For a second he thought about just watching her all day, for she seemed to fit in the scene so harmoniously that it was hard to turn his head away and kill the small buck peacefully eating away at the grass. He remembered thinking her anything but beautiful when he first saw her. Now, he knew he could never be more wrong. Without the blood, the bruises and with a little food and rest on her, she was by far the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

She turned her head slowly to look at him, and she had a beautiful, decadent smile on her face, knowing he would kill the animal and later she would enjoy eating it. Daryl frowned at the smile but did nothing to comfort her. It was stupid of her to be so against it. Was she a vegan before? She had better get used to it if she wanted to live.

Turning, he prepared his crossbow and got ready to shoot; from the corner of his eyes, he saw how she turned the other way, biting at her lip with a frown of her own.

The buck cried out and made a dash towards the woods, with Daryl and Lily following close behind.

"He's hurt. Won't be goin' too far." He said casually watching the grounds. Lily nodded, though did not comment on it. She was glad she had Daryl and Merle to hunt for the group. She knew she could not. Maybe if her life depended on it, she would try, and probably get over with it, but it always made her sad to see.

Apparently, Bambi had more fight in him than the two of them thought, for they came closer and closer towards camp. It was good, though, as they would not have to carry it all the way back.

Daryl came to an abruptly stop, making Lily crash into him. He scowled at her and motioned for her to stay silent. He knelt into the ground and brushed a few leaves out of the way. There was someone following their buck. Daryl was almost sure it was a walker for the left footprint was slightly unsteady, as if the person had a broken foot.

He moved silently, with all his senses alert, but when he noticed it was coming after the deer, he started walking quickly. Lily followed nervously after him, observing his awareness of something she had no idea what it was. It occurred to question him, but when following a track, Daryl didn't like having his concentration broken and would always reply with a snap. So with her mouth shut, she thrusted in him to take her back home. Daryl, though, was more concerned with her than with the buck they now followed. If there were walkers around, he knew he'd have to watch over her. Somehow, the idea wasn't so revolting to him as he first thought it would be.

* * *

If there's no one reading, there will be no update.

English is not my mother tongue, if you find a mistake, please let me know.

Thank you,

Mel.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

 **Her Angel, His Strength**

 **3 Tell It to the Frogs**

Lily knew for sure they were just a few steps behind the camp now. To think the buck made so far with two bolts in its body was a wonder. She wished she could hurry ahead to see if Glenn and Merle were safe, however, Daryl hadn't ever let her go ahead of him. He was tense and would always push her back whenever she tried and no amount of huffing seemed to make the point. She knew something was wrong, but he was not letting her on it.

When they finally broke out of the woods, they were met with several weapons pointing at their faces. Startled, she looked around to see what made the group so wary and saw a walker on the floor next to the now dead deer. Lily had seen them before, when she tried to make out of the city, though she never had had to deal with them, seeing she was captured.

Lily watched warily as Daryl left out his frustrations on the dead walker, feeling tired and disappointed. She could only imagine how Daryl felt. She made her way towards Glenn who was watching Daryl with nervous eyes and she hugged him tight. He returned the hug somewhat distraught and Lily knew immediately that something was wrong. Glenn started all kinds of physical contact between the two of them and he always seemed to enjoy it when she returned.

Just as she opened her mouth to question him, Daryl left the group and started calling for Merle, and Glenn, seeming nervous followed behind. Lily furrowed her brows. _Did something happen to Merle?_

"Your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there." Lily gaped at the man, having not met him before. They left Merle behind. With no means to escape. She turned to Glenn, but he could not meet her eyes.

She felt herself in a fog, not being able to break out from it. Distantly she heard Daryl shout. _How could they do that? Why would they do that?_ When she saw Shane get Daryl in a chokehold, she marched forward.

"I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic. Do you think we can manage that? Do you think we can manage that?" She heard the new person say. How could he even ask that? The man had just locked Daryl's only family into a hoof and left him alone and with no means to escape. How could anyone be calm about that?

"Let him go." Her voice was serious, firm, and her glare did not wave from Shane's surprised eyes. She saw him sent the new guy a look before realising Daryl.

"What I did was not on a whim. Your brother does not work and play well with others." Lily could hardly believe that was a good reason for leaving Merle behind.

"It's not Rick's fault. I had the key. I dropped it."

"You couldn't pick it up?" Lily asked incredulous, T-Dog looked surprised at her.

"Well, I dropped it in a drain."

"If it's supposed ta make me feel better, it don't." She could see the tears in Daryl's eyes, knowing herself was close to crying as well.

"Well, maybe this will. Look, I chained the door to the roof… So the geeks couldn't get at him… With a padlock. It's gotta count for something."

"Hell with all y'all!" Daryl shouted, glaring at everyone. "Just tell me where he is so that I can go get him."

"He'll show you. Isn't that right?" Lori said from the front of the RV.

"I'm going back." Rick nodded, and Lori walked away. While Lily was angry with the man, she appreciated the fact that he was trying to fix his mistake.

Walking up at Daryl, who was preparing himself to leave, she stated:

"I'm coming too."

"No. Ya aren't." He did not even look at her, so she frowned and made to stand in front of him.

"Yes, I am. He's my friend."

"Ya are not coming. That's that." Daryl's face was hard, his eyes glaring a whole into her own. "I'll have my hands full with Merle, can't be worrying about ya too." While she hated the fact that Daryl thought her incapable, she could understand the sentiment. It was not fair of her to be mad at him when he was already down. Letting out a breath, she nodded and started to walk away when he grabbed her arm. "Ya wanna me ta come back?"

Lily stared at him wondering just what he was getting at.

"Of course I do." She said, suddenly starting to worry that he would not.

"Then I will." He said, turning away from her.

She frowned watching Shane and Rick discuss about going back for Merle. She just could not believe Shane. How could they not go back? She knew most people at the camp did not like Merle, but to leave him behind like that was just inhuman. At least this Rick seemed to have some kind of conscience.

"You mad at me?" T-Dog asked her silently.

"Did you try to save him, at least?" She asked, seriously.

"Yeah. Went back for him, but I dropped the key. I swear I tried, I couldn't leave the man behind." She nodded with a half-smile. At least someone tried.

"I just can't believe people would just leave him like that. Even if he was being a jerk, Merle didn't deserve that." T-Dog nodded, though he did not look so sure of that. Of course, Lily knew nothing of what Merle said and did to him while in that roof, though he was not about to tell her. He and Glenn had talked a few days before of her relationship with the Dixons brothers, and while they could not understand it, they had seen how the brothers treated her differently. How Merle did not make many crude comments about her as he did the other women, how Daryl actually had a few conversations with her and did not seem to mind her following him around.

T-Dog told Glenn that perhaps it was because they both found her. He could remember the day she was brought into the camp in Daryl's arms, a pile of blood and bruises, barely looking a human being, and at first glance, he thought she was dead. He could only just imagine what was done to her. It'd seem she saw the two of them as her saviours, and while he couldn't describe the Dixons as _that_ , he knew that's what they were for her, especially with them being the first faces she saw after who knows how long of pain.

What he couldn't understand was why they would let her tag along when they went to hunt. They were against anyone following them, making a point to everyone how they'd leave them behind and never go back if they lost themselves or disturb them in any way, yet, they let this 5 foot woman follow them. _Merle Dixon even kissed her goodbye!_

"We'll get him back." He nodded to her and walked away. Lily sure hoped so. She knew that after that, Merle would never want to come back to these people. She herself felt that maybe it'd be best for them to go. If they were capable of leaving Merle behind, who provided meat for them, they sure could do the same to her.

That's when she realised that's probably what Daryl meant when he asked if she wanted him to come back. Relieved that he was still coming back for her, she felt herself relax that at least they weren't leaving her behind.

Glenn came up to her with a sheepish smile.

"It seems I'm going again." She nodded and smiled at him. While he was there when they left Merle, Lily couldn't bring herself to feel mad at him. Glenn was her best friend at camp, and she knew without a doubt that he would always come back for her. The thought made her feel guilty at their plan of leaving, but she figured she could always ask him if he wanted to go with them. She doubted he would, considering he didn't like the Dixons that much, seeming almost afraid of them, but she could try.

Glenn came up closer to her, asking with his eyes if it was okay to get a goodbye hug. Lily rolled her eyes and smiled at him, pressing herself against his torso. The both of them jumped at the horn beeping.

"I've no idea what you see in that guy." Glenn said as he stalked out.

" _What?!_ " Lily shirked after him, but he just smirked wide at her and got into the van. She blinked at him, not understanding just what to make of that statement.

Shaking her head, she decided to make herself useful and went to see the plants she had gotten from her trip into the woods with Daryl the day before. Lily was so focused on her work she didn't feel Amy approaching her with a basket full of clothes.

"Hey, Lils! We're going down the quarry to do some laundry, wanna join us?"

Nodding, she cleared up the few meds she had made and set aside a few berries for after dinner.

It was more fun than she had thought it'd be doing laundry with the other women.

"I miss my vibrator." Andrea said and Lily knew her face was bright red.

"Oh my God!" She laughed with the others, felling just a bit uncomfortable about that. When Carol, the quiet woman that never spoke her mind agreed, she knew her face was comical, all wide eyes and gaping mouth.

The laugher stopped when Ed made himself know. Lily remembered Amy's words about the man. How everyone thought he abused his wife, and maybe even his daughter, Sofia. She always tried to stay clear of him, never wanting to attract his attention. She felt she had enough of a man's dirty hands on her. Apparently, Andrea had others ideas.

"Ed, tell you what… You don't like how your laundry is done, you are welcome to pitch in and do it yourself. Here."

Lily watched the scene unfold before her, holding her breath. As soon as Ed's hand went out on Carol, she leapt into her feet, holding the woman close and trying to get away from the man. Shaking, she begged with the others for him to stay away, but she knew they could not do much for her if Carol did not fight for herself.

Shane grabbed Ed and Lily watched in horror as the cop pummelled the other man's face. Carol was crying in her arms and she could not do anything but pray it would all end soon. When Shane walked away, Carol freed herself from her arms and went on to beg her husband's forgiveness. Lily watched sadly, no knowing what to do with herself. She didn't want to be around them anymore, though the only people she was close to was Glenn and the Dixons, and they were all away. Biting her lip, she walked away silently, not wanting to bring any attention to herself.

* * *

If there's no one reading, there will be no update.

English is not my mother tongue, if you find a mistake, please let me know.

Thank you,

Mel.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

 **Her Angel, His Strength**

 **4 Vatos**

Lily was so engrossed in her book she didn't look up when Andrea and Amy came back from their fishing trip. It was only when Carl started to praise them that she got curious about it. They had managed to catch several fishes. She was impressed, knowing herself how to fish but never being able to catch more than just a few. She smiled at them, knowing they would all have a good dinner that night.

When Dale came down to say that Jim had been all day long in the sun digging into the ground, she didn't really know why everyone was so against it. Of course, he should take a few brakes, but he wasn't doing anyone any harm. She followed them anyway, just because she had nothing else to do.

The way Jim went on, though, made her rethink about her opinion. Perhaps Shane was right, while Jim was not hurting anyone he was hurting himself. She watched with a frown as Lori went to say how he was scaring the kids. The kids would be fine; she was more worried about why Jim was digging those holes. _They look like graves_ , Lily thought with a shiver running down her spine.

She watched as Shane handcuffed Jim and brought him down a shadow to tie him to a tree. Ruefully, she thought how these police officers were fond of tying people up. She honestly did not think it was necessary but made no comment about it. Jim appeared to understand and did not protest, so she thought it was not her place to. Besides, she never really talked to Shane before.

Lily sat down next to Jim after the crowd disappeared and he smiled at her. She smiled back and asked:

"You ok?"

"Yeah. Though I figure, I had better cooperate. You've seen the way he dealt with Ed." Lily bit her lip and looked away from him.

"I wanted… I wanted to have dealt with Ed the same way as him. The way he treats his wife… He deserved it." She concluded with severity. "Though I think he got carried away. It really wasn't necessary for him to destroy the man's face… And to do it in front of his wife, that was wrong. Just like I think it's wrong of him to tie you up here."

"I understand the need though. Didn't mean to scare those kids."

Lily sighed and closed her eyes. This wasn't a world for children. She felt bad for them, not being able to have a cheerful and happy childhood. They'd need to grow up fast. Frowning, she thought that again. She would need to grow up too. She knew that, if she were alone, she would end up walker's food. Perhaps Daryl would teach her how to shoot… Merle had already said she would need to man up her self-defence.

Getting up, she waved Jim goodbye and went on to continue reading Dale's book. She was getting worried they had not come back already, surely it should not take so long for them to get Merle and the guns back. Lily hoped beyond hope they were all okay. Especially Daryl, Glenn and Merle.

Lily tried to keep herself busy while waiting. She read a few more chapters but could not seem to concentrate so she gave that up and went on to retrieve the dry clothes. She got hers, Daryl, Merle, and Glenn's, not knowing if the others would appreciate her messing with their stuff. Smoothing out the best she could, she folded and placed them in their sleeping places.

Walking up to Amy, she quietly asked if she could stay guard for her while she bathed, the blonde-haired girl agreed and they went down the quarry. She learned that Amy's birthday was close, though she did not know if it had already passed or not, as no one seemed to keep track anymore. Lily thought Dale did, but was not so sure.

"Happy birthday, anyway." She smiled at her new friend. Amy beamed at her and asked when hers was. "October."

In their conversation, they discovered Lily was just two years younger than Amy, a fact that the blond thought funny. Amy told her about her past birthdays, and how it took the end of the world for Andrea to spend that special occasion with her. Lily smiled sadly, remembering how her own brother always made sure to spend her birthdays with her and how, even when he was just a kid, he had always insisted on getting her his own present. Of all her family, her brother was who she missed the most.

Finally, dinnertime came, and while the atmosphere was joyful, Lily could not bring herself to fully appreciate it; they should be back several hours ago. She did not want to bring up the topic though, seeing how everyone was having a good time for once. Shane even let Jim out of his tree. She smiled, and answered when talked to but she kept wishing she were back at her seat in the RV.

"I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire, which will fit your individual needs no better than it did mine or my father's before me; I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you may forget it for a moment now and then and not spend all of your breath trying to conquer it." Lily smiled.

"Faulkner." Dale beamed at her and she smiled back with sad eyes. Her father used to quote him sometimes.

When Amy got up to go to the toilet, she decided she'd excuse herself and retire for the night after Amy's return. Her worries were eating at her, making difficult for Lily to stay put.

It was then that it happened. Amy screamed and all seemed to move in slow motion. She could feel herself getting up and watching it, could feel the panic bubbling up her throat. Someone pushed her and she fell down the ground, a hand reaching out for her. She heard her own scream as she tried to get up but her legs failed her. The hand stopped coming, and someone grabbed her and pulled her up.

"Stay behind." _Daryl_ , she thought in a daze, _he came back!_ She followed him as he tried to make way towards the Winnebago, her eyes fixed on his back. Someone pulled her away, grabbing at her shirt. Acting sorely on instinct she took a bolt from Daryl's quiver and brought down at the face of the once upon a man that was snarling at her.

Daryl looked back and pushed her in front of him, deciding that it was better if he could see her. Pushing her, they made their way towards the others, and finally, the guns stopped firing. Turning Lily around he checked her body for bites or scratches, finding none he pulled her face close to him.

"Ya bit? Scratched?"

"No… No… Amy, Amy was." She said, shaking her head, not able to focus. "I- I killed it. I killed him." Daryl frowned, getting a hold of her hand and trying to pull his bloodied bolt out of her fingers. "He was going… I killed it. Amy was bitten. But it's her birthday!"

When he finally managed to make her realise the bolt, he took her face in between his hands, bringing it close to his.

"Hey. Stop that; look at me. Look at me, Lily." She blinked several times before being able to focus. "Breathe. It's over." She nodded and he let go of her face to hold onto her waist. She collapsed against him, sobbing into his shirt. Resting his chin on her head, he caught sight of Glenn making his way towards them. Daryl moved her to him and watched for a moment as the Asian got her into a sitting position and held her tight. Nodding, Daryl went off to find the others, having already realised Merle was not back.

It was decided they would take care of the bodies in the morning. Daryl would prefer to start right now, seeing it was only a matter of time before the ones bitten would rise again, but he nodded, eyeing Lily asleep with her head on Glenn's shoulder.

He walked up to them, ignoring Glenn and picking the woman up. Turning around he made his way towards his tent when Glenn said:

"Where are you going? The car is here." He pointed behind him.

"I got her." Daryl answered without looking back. Dropping her on his sleeping bag, he glanced at Merle's at the other corner of the tent. With a sneer, he went to it, but thought better about it and laid down next to Lily.

Lily rolled over, resting her hand on his chest and he glanced down at her. She freaked out for killing a walker, though Daryl was somewhat proud of her. It was a start, she only had to keep going and she would be just fine. He was glad they got back in time, having been worried when they first heard the screams and gunshots. He hated felling that way, but he figured the best way to cope with it was helping her learn how to survive. Closing his eyes, he draped an arm across the girl and, smelling down her hair, fell into sleep.

* * *

I am currently writing the season 3, and I would like to know if you would rather Merle die or live. Please give me your thoughts.

Thank you, **EastDenise** , for your comment. I had no idea that it didn't snow in Gergia. I'll make sure to remember that!

If there's no one reading, there will be no update.

English is not my mother tongue, if you find a mistake, please let me know.

Thank you,

Mel.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

 **Her Angel, His Strength**

 **5 Wildfire**

Lily exited the Dixons' tent and looked around her, trying to figure out what to do. Biting her lip, she walked over to Daryl who was swinging down a pickaxe over someone's dead head. When he saw her approaching, he stopped.

"Is there something I could do?" She asked him. Daryl snorted.

"Nah, go find somethin' ta eat." Lily frowned but walked away towards the RV.

On her way, she saw Andrea pull a handgun and point it at Rick. She figured the blond-haired woman hadn't left her sister's side all night long. With a sigh, Lily walked towards Lori and Shane who were watching the scene unfold. Nodding her head at them, she waited to see how they were going to handle the situation at hand.

Apparently, Daryl had seen the scene too, as he walked over to join them to hear Rick saying Andrea would not let them take Amy away.

"The dead girl's a time bomb."

"What do you suggest?" Rick asked.

"Take the shot. Clean, in the brain from here. Hell, I can hit a turkey between the eyes from this distance."

"No. For God's sakes, let her be." Lily nodded in agreement with Lori. Andrea deserved her time with her sister; she needed to accept what happened on her own. If it got dangerous, then they would interfere.

Daryl stalked away. She could understand his point of view, but could not agree with his way of dealing with the situation. Sighing she turned to Lori to ask if there was anything she could do to help. Her answer was a shrug and a sad smile.

"I don't think so, sweetie. Maybe you want to eat something? I think there's still some canned food left." Lily nodded but didn't make a move to go. She didn't think she could stomach anything at the moment, the last night's carnage still too fresh on her mind. Sitting down, she looked over the camp. Morales and Daryl were moving bodies towards a fire pit, Glenn was yelling at them, though she couldn't figure out his words. She caught sight of Jacqui who was also helping and decided to go with her, tired of felling useless.

"A walker got him. A walker bit Jim." Eyes widening, her walk turned into a jog towards them. It couldn't be true. Not sweet, gentle Jim.

"Show it to us. Show it to us." Jacqui's scream had attracted the attention of the others. They were closing into Jim now.

"I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm okay." Lily bit her lip when Daryl lifted Jim's shirt. _Oh God_. Daryl walked away from him, coming to stand in front of her, pushing Lily behind him slight. Her eyes were still focussed on the now covered wound Jim had.

Rick sat Jim down and motioned for the others to follow him a few steps away, Lori and Jacqui asking what they were going to do.

"I say we put a pickaxe in his head and the dead girl's and be done with it." Lily did not need to look up from the ground to know Daryl made the suggestion.

"Is that what you'd want if it were you?" Shane asked, though Lily knew he was being sarcastic.

"Yeah, and I'd thank ya while you did it." She nodded absently, not realising a few of the group staring at her strangely. She agreed with this, if it were she, she would rather they killed her first, before she had a chance to turn.

"I hate to say it… I never thought I would… But maybe Daryl's right."

"Jim's not a monster, Dale, or some rabid dog." Rick said.

"I'm not suggesting…"

"He's sick. A sick man. We start down that road, where do we draw the line?" Rick interrupted Dale.

"The line's pretty clear. Zero tolerance for walkers or them ta be." Daryl stated.

Rick mentioned the C.D.C., with the hope of some structure. Shane disagreed, believing Fort Benning to be a better option.

"Ya go looking for aspirin; do what ya need ta do. Someone needs ta have some balls ta take care of this damn problem!" Daryl got his pickaxe and started running towards Jim.

"We don't kill the living." Rick said, pointing a gun at Daryl's head. Lily's heart skipped a beat.

"That's funny coming from a man who just put a gun ta my head." Daryl walked away. Lily went after him. He looked at her from the corner of his eyes. "Ya stay away from him. It shouldn't take long for him ta turn."

"He's not dead yet. Maybe… Maybe Rick is right. Or Shane." He snorted. "Maybe there's something we can do for him." Daryl sneered at her and stomped away towards the line of dead bodies. Lily thought of following after him, but decided against it. He obviously did not want any company now.

She watched with the others as Amy turned, all of them nervous as the older of the sisters said a few words they could not hear. They heard the gunshot clearly, and Lily knew for sure that Amy was gone.

They staged a funeral. Andrea insisted in carrying Amy's body by herself, refusing Dale's help. Glenn gripped her hand tight and she could feel herself tearing up. Amy was always so sweet with her it was difficult not crying. After it ended, she walked up to Andrea, told her how sorry she was and gave the woman a hug, asking if there was anything she could do. Andrea shook her head and said she knew of her friendship with Amy, thanking her.

"I've been, uh… I've been thinking about Rick's plan." Shane started unsure. "Now look, there are no… There are no guarantees either way. I'll be the first one to admit that. I've known this man a long time. I trust his instincts. I say the most important thing here is we need to stay together. So those of you that agree, we leave first thing in the morning."

With a sigh, Lily looked down her body, a few blood strains on her clothes. She needed to shower if they were going to leave the next day. It was then that she realised that Merle was not there. He had not came back. Guilty for not noticing it before, she sought Daryl out with her eyes. _Had Merle died_? Maybe they found him and he didn't want to go back to camp. Daryl came back because he promised her and they'd meet up with Merle later, but with everything that went on, they were delayed… _No_ , she thought, Daryl would have mentioned it before. Maybe they didn't find him at all… Worse, found him as one of the dead now…

Shaking those thoughts out of her head, she marched her way down the pond. She'd ask Daryl later, when they were alone. He always reacted better to her when it was just the two of them. In the meantime, she'd pray for Merle's safety.

They didn't have much for dinner, appearing to be even less with the lack of meat the Dixons brothers hunted. The group ate their last canned food and Lily thought it'd be a good idea to move on from there. She didn't want to continue risking Glenn's life with trips to Atlanta, and considering how things went the last times people left the camp, she knew she couldn't be the only one to think that way.

Hungry and tired, everyone went to settle for the night. Daryl caught her arm before she could enter the Winnebago.

"Ya won't be sleepin' there. Not with that dead man." She opened her mouth to reply when he pressed on. "That's not up for discussion."

Dragging her across the camp towards his tent, Lily scowled at him. She couldn't put her finger on when it started, but Daryl was seriously going full on the role of her protector. The thought made a tiny smile cross her lips. She doubted he would appreciate her comments on it, though.

When Daryl didn't lay down next to her, Lily looked up at him, seeing him biting his thumbnail and gazing at Merle's sleeping bag. Propping herself on her elbow, she patted her side with a small smile. Daryl frowned but laid down next to her without argument. Rolling to face him, she asked in a whisper:

"Merle?"

"Sumbitch is alive. Didn't find him." He said with a frown, not looking at her when her breath was caught on her throat. "Cut his hand off and left the building. Stole our van too." With that, she smiled. _Only a Dixon can kill a Dixon, sweetcheeks,_ Merle said right before dropping a sloppy kiss on her forehead. _Indeed,_ she thought. She had a feeling they'd be seeing Merle again. Hopefully soon.

"We should leave him a message before we go. With instructions for him to go to the C.D.C., and, if we're not there, that he should probably follow towards Fort Benning." She felt Daryl nodding and, when he made no vocal reply, she said quietly: "goodnight."

Lily was already asleep when Daryl answered.

"G'night."

The next morning, Shane and Rick got everyone into a circle once everything was packed. Lily's bag was put on Daryl's truck. Lori, who was standing by her side, smirked at her.

"Don't feel so special! His brother's bike went before you!" Lily whipped her head at the elder's woman direction, all gaping mouth. Lori snorted and looked over at Shane, she could feel Carol's eyes on her, and when she looked at the woman, a ghost of a smile was on her lips. Apparently, she had heard what Lori said.

"Everybody listen up. Those of you with C.B.s, we're gonna be on channel 40. Let's keep the chatter down, okay? Now you got a problem, don't have a C.B., can't get a signal or anything at all, you're gonna hit your horn one time. That'll stop the caravan. Any questions?" Shane said.

"We're, uh… We're… We're not going." Morales said. Lily looked at him in surprise.

"We have family in Birmingham. We want to be with our people." His wife explained.

"You go on your own; you won't have anyone to watch your back." Shane alerted them and Lily nodded. She knew that if she could, she would have left a long time ago in search for her family; however, Lily could not help but agree it was best to have more people with her.

They travelled in silence, with the windows down; Lily smiled feeling the wind at her face. It had been a while since she rode in a car, and it always made her feel peaceful. The feeling came to an abruptly end when horns started sounding. Seeing the smoke coming out the RV, Lily sighed and exited the truck after Daryl.

"I told you we'd never get far on that hose. I said I needed the one from the cube van." She heard Dale saying to Rick. Just as Shane said he could see something ahead, Jacqui walked out the Winnebago warning them about Jim's worsening condition.

"It's what he says he wants." Rick said after talking to the man.

"And he's lucid?" Carol timid voice asked.

"He seems to be. I would say yes."

"Back in the camp when I said Daryl might be right and you shut me down, you misunderstood. I would never go along with callously killing a man. I was just gonna suggest that we ask Jim what he wants. And I think we have an answer." Lily bit her lip. Daryl had said they were close now, when they left the truck to go see what had happened. If Jim could just hang on a few more hours, maybe they could help him. It was a selfish desire, she knew, but her heart disagreed with her mind.

"It's not your call, either one of you." Lori said, and Lily begrudgingly agreed.

She tried to give Jim a last smile, but she knew it seemed more like a grimace. He appeared to understand though, as he nodded at her. Lily threw him one last glance before closing her eyes, no longer feeling peaceful.

Arriving at the compound, Daryl looked at her after stopping the truck.

"Ready?" His voice was gruff.

"Let's go." She replied, opening the passenger door. The smell of death was overwhelming, making her gag. She followed Daryl closely, with her bow and arrow at ready.

"Oh God." She heard Glenn mutter. Lily couldn't agree more.

"There's nobody here." T-Dog stated.

"Then why are these shutters down?"

"Walkers!" Lily's head whipped at this. Her breath caught as she tried to stop her shaking hands. "You led us into a graveyard!"

"He made a call." Shane defended his friend.

"It was the wrong damn call!"

"Just shut up. You hear? Shut up. _Shut up_! Rick, this is a dead end."

"Where are we gonna go?" Jacqui voiced her own question aloud.

"Fort Benning, Rick… Still an option."

"On what? No food, no fuel. That's 100 miles." Andrea said.

"125. I checked the map." Lily looked at Glenn. They would never make it without gas.

"Forget Fort Benning. We need answers tonight, _now_." Lori's desperate voice echoed.

Daryl approached her, and she understood instantly what he wanted. _Stay close_. They had just started moving away when Rick screamed:

"The camera… It moved." Lily looked at it. If there was someone there why weren't they opening the doors? Daryl's hand on her arm brought her back to the problem at hand. He pushed her in front of him and got his gun ready. "You're killing us! You're killing us!"

The door opened.

* * *

Thank you for those of you who suggested Merle's fate! It'll be taken in consideration!

If there's no reviews, there will be no update.

English is not my mother tongue, if you find a mistake, please let me know.

Thank you,

Mel.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

A special thank you to:

 _mysticaloricalmandi123_

 _Majestic butterfly_

 _EastDenise_

 _LyricalWisdom_

 _jeanf_

 _DixonGirl_

You rock! All my love to you all!

And to those who have favorited and/or followed this story, thank you! I hope to see you all on the next part of this story! It's, after all, you who made this happen!

 **Her Angel, His Strength**

 **6 TS-19**

They entered the room warily; no one was around to receive them. At the sound of a gun cocking, all heads looked at the stranger up the stairs.

"Anybody infected?"

Daryl went to get their things; Lily still could not believe they were inside the walls, safe from the outside world. The group submitted to a blood test for precaution, the doctor had said. She could understand his point of view, even if she hated those needles.

When Jacqui mentioned no one had eaten in days, Jenner leaded them to another room, a kitchen from what she could tell. Pasta was prepared, and Jenner even brought wine for them. Lily smiled sadly at that, remembering how her father would drink a glass of red wine at least once a day.

"There you are, young lad." Lily watched as Dale poured Carl a glass. The boy took a sip and grimaced.

"Eww." Lily watched with a smile with the rest of their party, while Lori praised her son. "Yuck. That tastes nasty."

"Well, just stick to soda pop there, bud." Shane said.

"Not you, Glenn." Daryl said from across the table.

"What?" Glenn asked with a smile.

"Keep drinking, little man. I want ta see how red your face can get." Everyone laughed at that. Lily shook her head at them, her own smile on her face. It had been a long time since she felt this happy. "Ya too, baby." He whispered in her ear.

Her face got beet red at that. Biting her lip, she looked down at her lap, feeling Glenn's eyes on her. She could only imagine his expression. Taking a sip of the wine Daryl poured on her glass, she tried to pretend Glenn was being the absurd one looking at her like that.

When the laugher and "booya's" started by Daryl died down, Shane asked seriously:

"So when are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, doc? All the— the other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?" The mood sobered quickly after that and Lily frowned at Shane. She agreed with Rick when the police officer stated that now wasn't the right time for that.

"Many couldn't face walking out the door. They… Opted out. There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time." Lily could only imagine the horror that Jenner must had felt, watching all his friends and colleagues die like that.

"Dude, you are such a buzz kill, man." Glenn said, plopping down next to her chair. She sighed and took another sip. It had been a while since she last ate, she wouldn't let Shane spoil this fancy dinner for her.

The news of hot water put back the smile on their faces. Lily hadn't know what that was for such a long time; she could hardly wait. Choosing a room at random, she left her bag and weapon at the sofa, and picking an outfit to sleep on, she went to shower.

It was just after she finished that she noticed the body length mirror. Her eyes fixated on that. Lily hadn't know that her time captive had left so many marks on her body. She never looked at it, but now it would seem she couldn't stop. She had no idea how long for she stayed transfixed on what had become of her when the door opened. Looking up she saw Daryl move slowly towards her.

"They made a monster out of me." It came in a whisper with a tear sliding down her face, but his frown told her he heard it.

"Ya no monster. Ya're ridiculously hot." He said and a small sad smile crept in her face, which was hot in embarrassment. She didn't believe him for a second, especially after seeing just how drunk he was.

He helped her get dressed, something she could have done herself, but she didn't mind. Besides, Daryl had saw all of her on the first day they met. There wasn't much to hide from him anymore.

He still had a bottle of alcohol on his grip, taking a sip every now and again before the two of them settled down for bed. Lily pondered absently minded that they had been sleeping together for a few nights now. Thinking nothing of it, she smiled at him and whispered goodnight. She was asleep before finishing the word.

Lily woke up with her head on Daryl's chest, her left arm holding his body and her right hand griping his at her waist. Smiling sleepily, she raised her head to look down on him. He seemed so peaceful asleep, no frown or scowl marking his face. Carefully tracing his features with her fingers, she noted how much younger he seemed.

Daryl moved so suddenly a gasp left her lips when he got her up him in one single move. Startled, she looked down at him who was gazing seriously at her. His blue eyes transfixed her and Lily couldn't look away even if she wanted. She hadn't even realised her head was dipping down when their lips touched.

It was an experimental kiss. Both of them testing the other. Sweet, gentle and a little clumsy, she now understood what Lori had said the morning they left the quarry, the smile on Carol's face and Glenn's shocked expression; Lily understood just why she was okay with sleeping with his body next to her. Raising her head slowly, she smiled at him.

"Good morning!" He didn't answer, just brought his hand on her head and pushed her face towards his again, running his lips gently against hers.

"Breakfast, y'all!" Dale's cheerful voice announced in the hall. Daryl and Lily separated quickly after that. Daryl left the room without a look back at her and she sighed.

She took a sit at the table next to Glenn, who looked a little green. Laughing she poked him on his side and he smiled weakly at her.

"How come you not hungover?"

"I know when to stop!" He only grunted at her. Taking two pills from Lori, she helped Glenn wash them down with water.

"What the hell happened to you? Your neck?" T-Dog asked Shane and Lily looked over to see three red lines on his face and neck.

"I must have done it in my sleep."

"Never seen you do that before." Rick commented.

"Me neither. Not like me at all." Frowning, Lily looked at him and at Lori, who had her head down. Lily couldn't help but feel that something was going on between the two of them. Before Rick came to camp, they were always together, happy. Now, Lori went out of her way to stay clear of him, making sure that Carl did so too.

"Morning." Jenner said walking into the room.

"I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing—" Dale started.

"But you will anyway." Jenner interrupted with a sigh.

"We didn't come here for the eggs." Andrea said.

They finished their breakfast soon after that and followed Jenner to the big room.

"Give me a playback of TS-19." Jenner commanded and they all watched with interest as the computer responded. "Few people ever got a chance to see this. Very few."

The main screen showed a head of what they learned was Test Subject 19. To Lily, it was beautiful, knowing that inside her own head, those bright lights were working on her brain, keeping her alive and unique.

"Those are synapses. Electric impulses in the brain that carry all the messages. They determine everything a person says, does or thinks from the moment of birth to the moment of death." Jenner explained. "VI, scan forward to the first event."

The screen changed, with the lights still flickering in the outer areas, but the centre of the brain had become dark.

"It invades the brain like meningitis. The adrenal glands haemorrhage, the brain goes into shutdown, then the major organs. Then death. Everything you ever were or ever will be… Gone.

"The resurrection times vary wildly. We had reports of it happening in as little as three minutes. The longest we heard of was eight hours. In the case of this patient, it was two hours, one minute… Seven seconds."

It started with a red glow at the base of the brain. A few sparks followed it, but the larger area, the synapses Jenner had talked about, were gone.

"They're not alive?" Risk asked, as if wanting to be sure they were not all murderers.

"You tell me."

"It's nothing like before. Most of that brain is dark." Rick shook his head.

"Dark, lifeless, dead. The frontal lobe, the neocortex, the human part— that doesn't come back. The _you_ part. Just a shell driven by mindless instinct."

They watched as a bullet entered the brain, which got completely dark, its movements ceasing.

"You have no idea what it is, do you?" Andrea rounded on the doctor.

"It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal." Lily bit her lip; it could be anything then.

"Or the wrath of God?" Jacqui said.

"There is that."

"Somebody must know something. Somebody somewhere." Andrea said, getting desperate.

"There are others, right? Other facilities?" Carol looked at the doctor, trying to find hope.

"There may be some. People like me."

"But you don't know? How can you not know?" Rick frowned.

"Everything went down. Communications, directives— all of it. I've been in the dark for almost a month." With a sigh, Lily closed her eyes. Almost a month and they were no closer to finding a cure then when it all began.

"So it's not just here. There's nothing left anywhere? Nothing? That's what you're really saying, right?" Lily asked, thinking about her family. She had no way of knowing how they were, if they were alive. She thought that not knowing was even worse than if she had seen them as one of the walkers.

"Dr. Jenner, I know this has been taxing for you and I hate to ask one more question, but… That clock— it's counting down. What happens at zero?" Dale asked and Lily noted for the first time the big red numbers.

"The basement generators— they run out of fuel."

"When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur." Lily watched as most of the men left to check on the basement. She followed Carol and Sophia, wanting to go back to her own room and rest. The news that this infection had gone worldwide had took off her fight. Her only hope was that her family was okay. That they were alive, probably worried about her, but alive. Now, she was not so sure.

When the air went down, she got up to check it up. It was hot down there, _why would someone stop it?_ Walking out her room, she saw that a few of the group were standing in front of their doors too, looking confused.

"What's going on? Why is everything turned off?" Daryl asked Jenner who took his whiskey bottle.

"Energy use is being prioritized."

"Air isn't a priority? And lights?" Dale asked surprised.

"It's not up to me. Zone 5 is shutting itself down." They all followed Jenner down the hall.

"What do you mean it's shutting itself down? How can a building do anything?" Rick, T-Dog, Glenn and Shane joined them.

"You'd be surprised." Jenner muttered. "The system is dropping all the nonessential uses of power. It's designed to keep the computers running to the last possible second. That started as we approached the half-hour mark. Right on schedule.

"It was the French." He said looking at Lily.

"What?"

"They were the last ones to hold out as far as I know. While our people were bolting out the doors and committing suicide in the hallways, they stayed in the labs 'till the end. They thought they were close to a solution."

"What happened?"

"The same thing that's happening here. No power grid. Ran out of juice. The world runs on fossil fuel. I mean, how stupid is that?"

Rick commanded everyone to grab their things. They needed to leave, their safe heaven just an illusion. Just as Lily got close to the door, an alarm started to blare.

"What's that?" Carl asked.

"30 minutes to decontamination." The computer answered. Jenner scanned his badge and entered a code password into a security pad; Lily's apprehension skyrocketing.

"Get your stuff and let's go! Go now! Go!"

The door banged closed.

"No. Did you just lock us in? He just locked us in!" Glenn shouted in anger by her side.

"We've hit the 30-minute window. I'm recording." Lily glared at the man in disbelief. _What was he doing?_

"You son of a bitch!" Daryl shouted. "You locked us in here!" Shane and Rick managed to pull him off the doctor, who was the only chance they had to get out of there alive.

"Hey, Jenner, open that door now."

"There's no point. Everything topside is locked down. The emergency exits are sealed."

"Well, open the damn things." Dale and Lily demanded together. Both with matching glares on their faces.

"That's not something I control. The computers do. I told you once that front door closed, it wouldn't open again. You heard me say that. It's better this way."

"What is? What happens in 28 minutes?" Rick asked and that finally got a reaction from the doctor.

"You know what this place is?! We protected the public from very nasty stuff! Weaponized smallpox! Ebola strains that could wipe out half the country! Stuff you don't want getting out! Ever!" His angry voice resonated across the room, everyone watching him in fear. "In the event of a catastrophic power failure— in a terrorist attack, for example— H.I.T.s are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out."

"H.I.T.s?"

"VI, define."

"H.I.T.s— high-impulse thermo baric fuel- air explosives consist of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear. The vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen at between 5,000 degrees and 6,000 degrees and is useful when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired."

"It sets the air on fire. No pain." Jenner resumed his voice soft. "An end to sorrow, grief… Regret. Everything." Daryl, though, was not having any of that, throwing his liquor bottle at the door, he demanded:

"Open the damn door!" He and Shane started banging the door with axes, with no success.

"Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher." Jenner said. Turning to Rick, he continued, "you do want this. Last night you said you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead." Everyone in the room looked at Rick when the blond man talked to him. Lily was surprised; Rick always seemed so calm and collected, always reassuring them that there was hope still, that they could all make it. He made all of them believe when he himself could not.

"I had to keep hope alive, didn't I?" She watched him sadly, collapsing on the floor. They were all going to die now.

"Wouldn't it be kinder, more compassionate just to hold your loved ones and wait for the clock to run down?" Lily nodded her head when she heard Jenner talk to Carol softly. Yeah, kinder than dying at the teeth of the dead that is for sure… Or kinder than dying at the hands of sick men. Perhaps he was right, after all.

She watched as Shane put his shotgun at Jenner's face. She could not see the point in that, the man was already conformed to his own death; Shane would just be accelerating the process.

"I think you're lying." Rick said calmly, after taking Shane off Jenner. "You're lying about no hope. If that were true, you'd have bolted with the rest or taken the easy way out. You didn't. You chose the hard path. Why?"

"It doesn't matter."

"It does matter. It always matters. You stayed when others ran. Why?"

"Not because I wanted to. I made a promise." He pointed at the screen. "To her. My wife.

"She begged me to keep going as long as I could. How could I say no? She was dying. It should've been me on that table. I wouldn't have mattered to anybody. She was a loss to the world. Hell, she ran this place. I just worked here. In our field, she was an Einstein. Me? I'm just… Edwin Jenner. She could've done something about this. Not me."

"Your wife didn't have a choice. You do. That's— that's all we want— a choice, a chance."

"Let us keep trying as long as we can." Lori begged.

"I told you topside's locked down. I can't open those". He sighed and unlocked the door Daryl had been beating. Everyone started to rush towards it, Lily a little slower than the rest, still not entirely sure it was the best option.

"Move it! Move it!" Apparently, Daryl thought the best for her was to go, as he gripped her arm and shoved her out of the way towards the hall. She walked a few steps when she heard T-Dog yelling, and, looking over her shoulder, she saw he was yelling at Jacqui. Shaking her head, she started to make her way back at the woman who had helped her since day one.

Daryl glared at her, grabbing her by the elbow and running down towards his room, where he got his bag and weapon. Never letting her go, they made their way towards her room next, where he haphazardly threw her stuff in her bag.

They hurried out following after T-Dog, and the two men instantly started banging against the doors. The others close behind.

"Jesus." Shane said in disbelief after shooting at the doors.

"Rick, I have something that might help." Carol said, rummaging into her bag. "Your first morning at camp, when I washed your uniform I found this in your pocket." She pulled out a grenade while Rick stared at it in shock.

Daryl ran at Lily, getting her down and laying his body on top of hers. His hands went to her ears, pressing tightly against them, and she tried to do the same for him.

After the explosion, Daryl helped her up and pushed her at the whole in the window, and they made a mad dash towards the vehicles. Lily and Daryl had just made it to the truck when they saw Andrea and Dale coming out.

Daryl pushed her down towards the seat and took cover over her shaking body. She felt the heat before hearing the explosion, sweat running down her face, mixing with the tears she did not know she had shed. Getting up, they looked at the remains of the building.

They started to move out, back the way they came, a black smoke covering their backs.

* * *

 **jeanf** , while I already have Lily's entire history and how she came to be in the hands of those men in my head, I won't write it until season 4, I'm afraid! However, bits and pieces will be told in the meantime! I hope you'll wait and see until then! What she did before will be revelled in season 2, though I warn you now it's nothing really exiting. Thank you for the reviews, they were lovely.

 **DixonGirl** , no, when Lori made that comment, it was just in jest, I don't believe her to be a malicious woman. Moreover, for Carol's smile, I think she'd found the comment and Lily's expression funny, also, it could be because Lily was clueless on Daryl's feelings, you can decide her reaction by yourself, though to me, it was a mix of the three. Thank you for the reviews!

If there's no reviews, there will be no update.

English is not my mother tongue, if you find a mistake, please let me know.

Thank you,

Mel.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

 **Her Angel, His Strength**

 **7 What Lies Ahead**

They did not talk much. Sometimes, Lily could feel Daryl's eyes on her, but she did not acknowledge him. The sun was blaring down at them, mocking their loss. _Jacqui chose to stay; it was her decision and no one had the right to force her_ , Lily kept repeating those words on her head trying to convince herself that there was nothing she could have done.

A little while ahead, the caravan stopped. They were in front of what used to be a hospital. Apparently, Daryl, Glenn, T-Dog and Rick had stopped there on their search for Merle.

"I'm telling you, man. Look at this place, they got overrun." T-Dog said pointing at the building. The doors were opened and there was no one in sight.

"We'll be careful. Keep your eyes open, stay close." Rick commanded and walked ahead, his gun at ready. The sight that greeted them was enough to make Lily gag; the stench of dead bodies made her eyes water. Glenn's face was green, and Daryl had a weird expression on his face. She did not know these people, but obviously, they did.

When the group walked upstairs, Lily heard her own gasp mix with the ones of the others. There were so many old people there, some attached to wheel chairs. The sight was heart breaking.

"They got overrun." Rick said, confirming T-Dog's word, after taking in the sight in front of him. "The Vatos… They wouldn't do this." His voice was thick with emotion as he looked at his wife's face.

"Whoever did this got their supplies too." Daryl said.

"We won't stay here, we keep moving." Rick nodded to himself, turned around and left without waiting for anyone's opinion. The others who had been there with him and had met the Vatos people followed him without question. The rest of the group looked at each other and, when Shane sighed and nodded, left as well.

They kept going until they found an empty gas station. After making certain it was secure and finding a few non-perishable food, the group dinned and got ready to rest. It was going to be a long day tomorrow.

Deciding to ditch his truck in favour of saving gas, Lily's bag was thrown in the RV. She herself followed it before Daryl pulled her aside.

"C'mon, ya're riding with me." He said, pushing her towards his motorcycle. Lily glanced at it nervously. It seemed excessively big for Daryl to ride. He pulled her hair to her shoulder and pressed his lips lightly on her neck. "Git on." He said before gently biting her. Shivering, she did as he said knowing her face was red. She could only hope no one saw that, though considering Daryl didn't seem one for public display of attention, she was almost sure theirs had no audience.

Despite her fear, the ride was nice, with the caravan stopping once for lunch. Glenn sat near her, pestering Lily about what was going on between her and Daryl. Lily couldn't answer, not knowing what that was herself. He proceeded to talk how lucky she was, and how he wished to ride the bike himself. Joking, she said he could take her place behind Daryl the next time they were on the road.

"Yeah, I think the moment he sees me walking towards it; he'll kill me with that arrow of his." He said, making a face. Lily smiled and said it was a bolt. They had just begun to talk about the differences between arrows and bolts when Rick started talking about their plan. It was not something they did not know. Head to Fort Benning, being careful about stray walkers on their way, horning if a problem arouse.

The next day, they approached a highway, with a pile of cars blocking their way. Lily knew the Winnebago wouldn't be able to pass through. Carefully manoeuvring between the cars, the caravan tried to keep on path, when smoke started to come out of the hood of Dale's vehicle. Stopping, Lily got out the bike first and headed towards the RV.

It was decided they would gather as much supplies as they could. Lily found a few shirts her size and a pretty dress that she thought was about Andrea's, but she couldn't be sure and she didn't think the woman would appreciate something as unpractical as a dress. Shrugging, she left it where she found and continued towards the next car, praying there'd be water or food. It was what they needed the most.

Lily had just found a promising suitcase when Daryl appeared out of nowhere and pressed his hand on her mouth. She tried to ask him what was going on but his eyes were focussed on something ahead; when Lily turned her head to see what it was, she noticed them. There was so many she knew they couldn't fight and win. Daryl pushed her under the car she was previously looking and walked away a few steps to hide himself. She could still see his shoes, but it didn't seem like he was getting under a car. Lily tried to hold her breath and control her heartbeat for it was beating wildly on her chest and she was sure the walkers could hear it. She tried to keep Daryl's shoes in her sight, however, after a few minutes Daryl started to walk away. Panicking, Lily rotated her body to try to see where had he gone but the horde passing by her car blocked her view. It seemed like an eternity had passed when she finally thought it was safe to get out from under the car. Searching for the rest of the group, she saw Daryl helping T-Dog towards the caravan where the rest was also heading.

"What happened?" Glenn asked when he saw T-Dog bleeding profusely. "You bit?" He asked in panic.

"No, no, no…" T-Dog said; his face sweating and pale. A cry sounded and they looked at Carol who was being restrained by Lori.

"Sophia got out too soon. Walkers were on her trail. Rick went after her." Lori said when Shane asked what happened. Lily eyes widened.

"Do you have something to help T-Dog?" Dale asked her after talking to Andrea who was covered in blood. "He's bleeding pretty badly." Lily nodded and went in to gather her bag. There was a walker on the floor and she gasped.

"He's dead." Andrea told her after following after her.

"Are you ok?" Andrea nodded without looking at her and got the walker by his feat to take him away. Lily frowned but decided against commenting on it, the event had obviously shaken Andrea up.

Back outside, she tried her best to clean T-Dog's arm, making a tourniquet of a belt Glenn handed her. She applied a homemade antibiotic, but she knew it would not be enough if he got an infection. She had just finished dressing his wound when Rick returned alone. Upon realising Sophia was not there, he asked Shane, Daryl and Glenn to go back with him in search for her.

Lily stayed near T-Dog, explaining to him what he needed to do for the time being.

"If starts to hurt really bad, you apply this one here, see? And try to, at every three hours, to reapply this one. We should also redress your arm when you do that."

"Were you a doc before?" He asked.

"No… But my dad and my uncles were. My cousin was also studying to become one. When you have so many doctors in your family, you're bound to know a thing or two. It also didn't hurt that every time I misbehaved, my father's idea of a punishment was to take me to the hospital to spend the day there." She answered with a smile. T-Dog knew she didn't talk much, especially about herself, so he smiled in return and nodded, thanking her. "Drink as much water as you can, ok? And stay out of the sun."

She walked over to Glenn, who had returned with Shane, and helped him sort through what they had found. It wasn't much, but Lily was glad, it was more than they had before.

"Do you think she's ok?" She asked him.

"Daryl knows how to track. You should know better than anyone, what, being on the woods with him before." He smiled at her but his face fell at the worried look on her face. "Hey, she'll be fine. Don't worry." Nodding, she got back to her task.

Lily tried to help the others while keeping an eye on T-Dog. She wished she could talk to Carol, but had no idea what to say. She walked over to her, and pressed her hand to the woman's shoulder but couldn't say a word. Carol nodded to her and returned her attention to where Sophia was last seen. With a sigh, she let go, and started to walk back when Rick and Daryl returned alone.

"You haven't found her?" Carol asked in despair.

It was decided that they would look for her in the morning. Carol wasn't happy with that.

"Daryl knows the woods better than anyone. I asked him to oversee everything."

Carol blamed Rick for what happened and couldn't stop crying. Deciding to leave her in the hands of Lori and Andrea, Lily walked away with Glenn. Not much was said that night, except for Rick's plan to continue the search for Sophia. This time, with more people to cover more ground.

"Be discreet, stay tuned, keep the space between you but always stay in sight of each other." Rick said while everyone started to grab a weapon. Lily looked at them, but decided not to take one. She already had her bow and Daryl's spare knife he had given to her their first time in the woods, back at the camp in Atlanta.

They watched as Dale and Andrea discussed about what happened at the C.D.C., where Andrea wanted to stay with Jacqui and Jenner. Dale asking for gratitude, Andrea saying she was the one that saved his life, not the other way. No one interfered. Lily could understand Dale; he had loved Andrea the moment he saw her, her and her sister being his reason to go on. Of course he would try to change her mind. Nevertheless, when it came down to it, it was Andrea's choice. She had the right to do what she wanted, and it was not fair to her to keep going for someone else other than her own. She had to want to live; she had to want to do it for herself, and no one else.

They entered the forest, with Lily by Glenn's side. The atmosphere was tense, and even Glenn had not tried to make conversation. When they reached a campsite, Rick motioned for them to stop.

"She could be in there."

"There can be a whole lot of stuff in there." Daryl replied.

"Carol, call her softly. If she's there, yours should be the first voice she hears."

"Sophia? Sweetie, you there? Sophia, is mommy. Sophia? We're all here, sweetheart. It's mommy." No one answered. Daryl entered the tent, and came back empty handed.

"It's not her." Carol sighed. Suddenly a bell started to ring and they ran towards a cemetery and, just past it, a church.

"It cannot be there. This is not good, it has no steeple." Shane said, though Rick started to run towards the church, ignoring him. "Rick!"

Opening the doors, they saw not Sophia, but three walkers inside. After killing them, Rick screamed:

"Sophia!"

"Yo, J.C., ya takin' any requests?" Lily would have laughed if the situation were not so grim. When the bells started again, they all rushed towards the source. "A timer." Daryl explained, after Glenn stopped it.

Carol walked back inside the church, and the others followed her. Lily sat on the steps, not thinking it her place to hear the woman's praying. Besides, it wasn't as if Lily was a believer. After a while, the group walked out the church and she went with Glenn towards the shadow of a tree.

Shane walked over and said they should get back to the highway whereas he and Rick would stay and look over the area in case Sophia heard the bells.

On their way back, Carol stopped to sit on a log.

"So that's it? That's the plan?" When Daryl answered that the plan was to separate them to smaller groups, Andrea let out her frustrations:

"Armed with sticks and knives." Looking at Lori, she said, "I see you have a gun."

"Why? You want it?" She asked, handing her gun towards Andrea, who looked shocked. "Here, take it. I'm tired of the looks you throw me. Everyone. Carol, I can only imagine what you are going through, and I would do anything to stop it, but you need to stop blaming Rick. It's on your face every time you look at him. When Sophia ran, he did not hesitate, not for a moment! And I'm not sure if any of us would do the same as he did, or taken the difficult decisions he had to take, knowing that it was impossible to do otherwise." She said, while everyone else looked at the ground. Lily admired Lori for speaking her mind. Before, she was like her, never being afraid to voice her opinions. Her captors took that away from her.

Andrea, embarrassed of her behaviour, gave Lori her gun back, telling they had better get back on the road, so off they went, until a gunshot was heard.

* * *

If there's no reviews, there will be no update.

English is not my mother tongue, if you find a mistake, please let me know.

Thank you,

Mel.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

 **Her Angel, His Strength**

 **8 Bloodletting**

Lori was worried; stopping every two minutes to look in the direction they heard the gunshot.

"Why one? Why just one gunshot?"

"Maybe they took down a walker."

"Please don't patronize me. You know Rick wouldn't risk a gunshot to put down one walker, or Shane. They'd do it quietly." Lily agreed, considering Shane's lecture in the morning to Andrea, about how a gunshot in the wrong moment could attract a herd. She motioned for them to keep walking; there was nothing to do about that.

"I'm sorry for what you're going through." Andrea said approaching Carol. "I know how you feel."

"I suppose you do… Thank you. The thought of her, out here by herself... It's the not knowing that's killin' me. I just keep hopin' and prayin' she doesn't wind up like Amy." Carol, realising what she had said, gasped. "Oh, God! That's the worst thing I ever said."

"We're all hoping and praying with you, for what it's worth."

"I'll tell ya what it's worth." Daryl snarled coming closer to then. "Not a damn thing. It's a waste of time, all this hopin' and prayin'. We're gonna locate that little girl. She's gonna be just fine." He started to walk away. "Am I the only one zen around here? Good lord." Lily looked at Glenn and the two of them shared a smile.

After a while, Lily knew they should head back. They were starting to lose day light.

"Let's head back."

"We'll pick it up again tomorrow?" Carol asked.

"Yeah, we'll find her tomorrow." Lori answered her, and they all kept walking. Lily still tried to keep an eye out for Sophia, though she figured if the girl was around, she'd hear them talking.

"How much farther?"

"Not much... Maybe a hundred yards as the crow flies."

"Too bad we're not crows." Andrea said.

Lily hadn't realised Andrea was not with them anymore until she heard her scream. Rushing towards her, they saw a walker on top of Andrea, whose terrified kicks made difficult for them to shoot at the walker, until a woman on a horse came up at them, tackling the walker down with a baseball bat.

"Lori? Lori Grimes?" The woman asked looking at Andrea.

"I'm Lori."

"Rick sent me. You've got to come now."

"What?"

"There's been an accident- Carl's been shot. He's still alive but you've gotta come now. Rick needs you." When Lori hesitated, taking in what the woman said, she snarled. "Just come!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! We don't know this girl. You can't get on that horse." Daryl said marching forward towards Lori, who was already on the back of the animal.

"Rick said you had others on the highway, that big traffic snarl?"

"Uh-huh." Glenn muttered, still shocked by her sudden appearance.

"Backtrack to Fairburn road. Two miles down is our farm. You'll see the mailbox- name's Greene. Hi-yah!" With that, she was gone.

Their walk back to the highway was made in silence. Lily's head was spinning, _why was Carl shot? Who would shoot a small boy like that?_ It was not as if they did not have enough on their plate, with Sophia missing. It seemed so unfair for those kind of things to happen to the children of the group.

"Shot? What do ya mean shot?" Dale asked when they returned and he didn't see the rest of the group with them

"I don't know, Dale. I wasn't there. All I know is this chick rode out of nowhere like Zorro on a horse and took Lori." Glenn said.

"You let her?"

"Climb down out of my asshole, man. Rick sent her. She knew Lori's name and Carl's." Daryl answered.

"Do you think we should go after them? Head towards the farm?" Lily asked when Andrea came back from the RV after washing up.

"I won't do it. We can't just leave." Carol answered her.

"Carol, the group is split. We're scattered and weak."

"What if she comes back and we're not here? It could happen." Lily hadn't thought about that. She nodded, biting her lip. It was a slim chance, but Sophia could come back to them.

"If Sophia found her way back and we were gone, that would be awful."

"Okay. We gotta plan for this. I say tomorrow morning is soon enough ta pull up stakes. Give us a chance ta rig a big sign, leave her some supplies. I'll hold here tonight, stay with the RV." Daryl said, and Lily smiled at him. For his entire tough act, he had a golden heart.

"If the RV is stayin', I am too." Dale said.

"Thank you. Thank you both." Carol smiled.

"I'm in." Lily nodded her stay too after Andrea.

"Well, if you're all staying then I'm-"

"Not you, Glenn. You're going. Take- take Carol's Cherokee." Dale said firmly.

"Me? Why is it always me?" Glenn wined and Lily smiled with her head down.

"You have to find this farm, reconnect with our people and see what's going on. But most important, you have to get T-Dog there. This is not an option. That cut has gone from bad to worse. He has a very serious blood infection. Get him to that farm. See if they have any antibiotics. Because if not, T-Dog will die, no joke." Lily looked up, seeing T-Dog's shrunken form by the RV, a blanket covering his torso. Daryl waked away towards his bike just as Lily made her way to T-Dog.

"Why'd ya wait till now ta say anythin'? Got my brother's stash. Crystal, x… Don't need that. Got some kick ass painkillers. Doxycycline. Not the generic stuff neither. It's first class. Merle got the clap on occasion." Daryl said, and she looked up at him, with a grimace. _Was it necessary to announce that in front of everyone_? At least they had medicine now. T-Dog would be fine.

Lily hoped the same could be said about Carl and Sophia.

* * *

 **jeanf** , well, I can't really tell you that, now can I? You'll find out soon enough. Thank you for all this amazing support you've been giving me!

If there's no reviews, there will be no update.

English is not my mother tongue, if you find a mistake, please let me know.

Thank you,

Mel.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

 **Her Angel, His Strength**

 **9 Save the Last One**

Lily knew that Andrea and Carol did not think much of their sleeping situation, but it did make her nervous. She was laying on Daryl's chest, whose arm was draped across from her. They weren't sleeping, not that they could even if they tried. Andrea was nosily handling her gun, Carol was sobbing and she could feel Daryl's frustration raising. She wished Glenn were there.

"Gotta get up." He said silently to her. She frowned but nodded and moved her body away. "I need my clip now. I'm gonna walk the road, look for the girl."

"I'm coming too." Andrea said, and they both headed out. She thought of going with them, but decided to keep Carol company instead.

Getting up, she sat on the floor next to where the woman was laying.

"Hey… I cannot imagine what you're going through right now, so I'm not gonna pretend I do, ok?" Lily tried to smile. "But you've got to know that… Whatever it is you need… I'm your woman, ok?"

"Thank you." Carol whispered. Lily nodded, and patted her hand. "What… What is going on between you and Daryl?" Carol asked, and at the look on Lily's face, she amended: "not that it's any of my business."

Lily sighed. So much for no one paying attention to their sleeping agreement.

"We… I don't really know." She frowned. "He just… I guess we're together?" She said, sounding more like a question. "We never talked about it… Guess there was never the right time." Carol nodded and smiled.

"He's a good man." She whispered. "More than I gave him credit for."

"Yeah, well…" Lily smiled. "I never doubted that for a second."

After that, Carol said she wanted to go up to wait for them. Lily nodded, and went back to Daryl's cot to wait. Later, when Carol came back, she knew Daryl and Andrea arrived without Sophia. Her cries were silent this time, but no less heart breaking.

Daryl came in a few moments later, laid down next to her, and manoeuvred Lily to the same position they were before.

* * *

I'm sorry for the delay, many things happened and then TWD had already aired on TV, so this is just a notice about the updates. I (probably) will only post on Sundays, but with TWD back, there won't be any new chapter on this fanfiction. I had already decided that when I first started writing, so the next one will (probably) be on the first Sunday of December. This chapter is just an apology for forgetting to notify you!

If there's no reviews, there will be no update.

English is not my mother tongue, if you find a mistake, please let me know.

Thank you,

Mel.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

 **Her Angel, His Strength**

 **10 Cherokee Rose**

Lori and Rick came to receive them in the morning.

"How is he?" Lily asked.

"He'll pull through, thanks to Hershel and his people." Lori's smile was watery. Lily smiled back, relieved.

"And Shane." That was the first time she noticed the man standing a few steps away. She frowned when she saw him, though she didn't know if it was because of the hair, the clothes or the expression on his face. "We'd have lost Carl if not for him." Rick continued.

After hugs were exchanged, Hershel, an old man with white hair invited them for Otis's funeral, a man that had died to save Carl.

"Shane, will you speak for Otis?" By his expression, it was the last thing he wanted to do.

"I'm not good at it. I'm sorry."

"You were the last one with him. You shared his final moments. Please. I need to hear. I need to know his death had meaning." A blond woman, who Lily concluded was Otis' wife, begged. Lily had to look away from her, her pain so raw it made her clench her fists.

"Okay. We were about done. Almost out of ammo. We were down to pistols by then. I was limping. It was bad. Ankle all swollen up. 'We've got to save the boy.' See, that's what he said." Lily frowned; the way Shane was talking gave her a weird felling. "He gave me his backpack. He shoved me ahead. 'Run,' he said. He said, 'I'll take the rear. I'll cover you.' And when I looked back... If not for Otis, I'd have never made it out alive. And that goes for Carl too. It was Otis. He saved us both. If any death ever had meaning, it was his." Lily couldn't help but feel that something was off with Shane. Perhaps it was watching the guy die to protect him, to save a child he didn't know…

After the funeral, Lily walked away with Glenn and they started to set up camp. Back at the quarry in Atlanta, Lily used to sleep in the RV, though somehow that had changed to her sleeping with Daryl. She didn't have a tent of her own, so she was taking what others could spare her.

"Do you mind if I sleep in your tent?" She asked Glenn, not wanting to assume Daryl would always open his door for her. Besides, Carol was sleeping in the RV, and the woman always said her prayers before crying herself to sleep. Lily always felt uncomfortable, not knowing if she should say something to comfort the mother. Then, there was Andrea. She had no idea what had happened when she and Daryl had gone out looking for Sophia, but the woman had been sending Lily bewildered looks ever since they had woke up. She could almost feel the want of the woman to ask her something that Lily was sure would be embarrassing.

"No prob, though you sure you don't wanna share with Daryl?" He asked, a smirk on his boyish features.

"Shut up." Was her clever response, her face turning beet red when she saw their subject walking over to her. "Be right back." Lily left without waiting a witty reply.

"Gonna go back ta the creek, look for the girl."

"Alone?" She asked, biting her lip when he nodded. "Maybe I should go with you."

"Nah, you stay." Seeing the look on her eyes, he huffed, putting his hands on her chin, he lifted her head up and pressed a kiss on her lips. "Ya shoud set up our tent, anyway." He said, patting her bottom. Lily jumped and Daryl smirked, turning away.

She had just made her way back to talk to Glenn when she heard him mutter in confusion:

"Horse?"

"What?"

"Hm… I'm going on a run. Pharmacy." He said. "With the farmer girl." Lily snorted at his dreamy expression.

"All right, cowboy. Listen, I think I'll stay in Daryl's tent… Ok?" He nodded absently, searching for something. Lily frowned; Glenn was never one to miss up an opportunity to tease her, especially when it had to do with Daryl. "Ok, then." She said, and went over to start to set up Daryl's tent. Theirs, as Daryl said.

"Hey, Lils, need help? I finished mine already." So apparently, Glenn was back to normal.

"Yes, please." She smiled. "So, what's up? You like Hershel's daughter?"

"What? No! I mean, why should I? I mean, I don't know her, so I couldn't like her… Or dislike her! I mean, I don't know her." Lily laughed.

"You're blabbing!" It was good to be on the other end for once. It was usually Lily who Glenn would pester. "And you like her!"

"Yeah, well. It's been a while since I saw any pretty girl, you know?"

"Excuse me?" Lily arched an eyebrow.

"Oh, gee. Besides you! And, anyway, you don't count. You're like, my baby sister." Lily's smile could outshine the sun when she heard his words.

"You mean, big sister." She teased.

"Nu-uh, you're two years younger, smart ass." He shook his finger at her.

"But I'm smarter! And much more mature!" Their banter was interrupted by a cough.

"You ready?" The farmer girl asked, eying them curiously. Lily snorted as she saw Glenn fluster all over. Before he could answer, T-Dog appeared, yelling about something on the well.

"Looks like we've got us a swimmer." There was a walker on the well.

"How long you think it has been down there?" Glenn asked in disgust.

"Long enough to grow gills." Andrea answered.

"Put a bullet in its head." Someone suggested making Lily look up.

"Whoa, whoa, guys." Maggie said, surprised. "No."

"Why not? It's a good plan."

"It's a stupid plan. If that thing hasn't contaminated the water yet, blowing its brains out will finish the job." Andrea agreed.

"She's right. Can't risk it."

"So it has to come out alive? So to speak."

"Even if we get him out, the water is already contaminated." Lily said, looking down at the well. "Though, if we treat it, we can use it. I think there may be something on the woods that'll help clean it up. Not for drinking though." When she sensed Shane's look on her, she sighed. Sometimes she forgot that, aside from Glenn, they knew nothing about her. "I was studying environmental engineering before."

Shane nodded at her, agreeing.

"All right, someone go get a rope and some meat. We'll try to bait him." He said, looking at Maggie.

"There's a reason the dead didn't come back to life and start raiding our cupboards." Lori said when they realised the walker was ignoring the ham.

"We need live bait." Andrea stated looking at Lily.

"What?" She and Glenn asked simultaneously.

"She's right." Shane said. "You're the smallest here. We won't let you fall, don't worry."

"No, no. Wait guys! I'll go." Glenn said.

"No, he's right. I'm smaller." Lily nodded her face paling.

"We're gonna get you out of here in one piece." Shane said, after securing the rope around her.

"Living piece. That living part is important." Glenn said, still fazed about Lily going down.

"Oh, you people are crazy." Maggie said, looking almost as worried about her as Glenn did.

"You want to get it out of your well or not?"

"Doing okay?" Maggie asked her when she was ready to go.

"Yup, doing great." Lily said, looking down. "Living the dream." She muttered.

"Little lower. Little more." That was when the rope gave out. Lily screamed.

"Get me out of here!" She yowled at them. "Get me out! Oh God. Oh God. Oh, My God! Get me out of here!"

"Pull her up. Pull her up."

"Are you okay?" Lily heard someone asking her when they finally got her out of the well. Glenn helped her up, doing a quick scan on her for bite marks.

"Back to the drawing board."

"Says you." Lily said giving the rope she had managed to lace the walker with to somebody else. She needed a moment to calm down.

"Come on, guys, pull." T-Dg said, looking at the walker on the well.

"Come on, y'all." Shane encouraged.

"It's stuck! Come on. Come on, pull!" T-Dog said.

The walker got out, and then, his stomach ripped open. His lower body fell down again, though this time, with his entrails out.

"We should seal off this well."

"Yeah, might be a good idea." Lily said, not believing it was all for naught.

"So what do we do about...?" Maggie started when T-Dog bashed the walker's head.

"Good thing we didn't do anything stupid like shoot it." Lily saw Maggie walking away, a pained expression on her face. Lily could understand her, the first time she killed a walker at the quarry coming to her mind. She remembered how freaked out she was.

The crowd dispersed. Shane, Andrea and Carol went to the highway see if Sophia had found her way back, and Glenn and Maggie went to the pharmacy. Lily went back to her tent to set it up for Daryl.

She fished around her bag and found her sleeping bag. When she left her home, she had packed it, not knowing what she would need on her way to Atlanta. The sleeping bag was something she never had used. In fact, Lily had forgotten she had one until now. She thought Daryl would be happy that she wasn't going to steal his anymore.

It wasn't long until Daryl got back.

"Found her?"

"Nah… Found somewhere she could had holed up though."

"Oh… Well, at least is a lead." Lily sighed. Every day that passed and Sophia wasn't found was a blow to Lily's, and she knew, Carol's hope.

"Watcha did all day?" He asked, laying down on his cot and grabbing his bolts for inspection.

"Oh, you know… This and that." She smiled. "Set up the tent, talked to Glenn, went down the well as live bait…"

" _What_?" She meant it as a joke, though seeing Daryl's face; she knew he thought it was anything but. He was furious.

"There was a walker in the well. We needed to get it out." She explained.

"So ya volunteered?" He sneered. "That chinaman said nothin'?"

"Well… Shane did." Daryl's face got darker. "He was right; I was the smallest one there, easier to get out. And Glenn, the _Korean_ man, wanted to be the one to go, I said no."

Daryl got closer to her face, his blue eyes piercing her brown ones.

"I want ya away from Shane." He said, his tone low and menacing. "If somethin' like that happens again, ya say no. Ya say no and walk away from him."

"Excuse me?"

"Ya believe that story he said about that dead guy?" Lily frowned. _Did he mean Otis?_ "Shane's not lookin' out for ya. Stay away from him."

* * *

If there's no reviews, there will be no update.

English is not my mother tongue, if you find a mistake, please let me know.

Thank you,

Mel.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

 **Her Angel, His Strength**

 **11 Chupacabra**

The next day, Daryl and Lily walked out their tent in silence. They hadn't spoken much after Daryl's warning about Shane. Lily had felt something was off about him at the funeral, but she didn't believe Shane was as dangerous as Daryl thought.

After breakfast, they went their separates ways, with Lily going to help Carol with the clothes and Daryl walking towards where the others were circling a map. He still didn't want her helping find Sophia. The thought made her a little angry; it was not as if she could not handle herself.

"Ya need ta be trained before." He said, the day before. "When I come back, we'll start doin' that." It was what Merle had wanted for her too, she remembered.

After hanging the clothes, Lily stayed with Carol for a while. While she thought a good idea to make dinner for everybody, she knew she was just going to be on the other women's way.

"I'm serious. I don't cook at all. I'm a disaster on it, set the alarms once in my apartment." Carol was having none of that, though, insisting she could learn. Lily agreed just to make the woman happy.

She had to admit it was a little fun. She did not do much, preferring to watch as the others moved around. If there was one thing the apocalypse had not changed was just how much women liked to gossip. Lily used to like it too, though now she preferred the silence. She wondered if she would ever go back to the way she used to be.

"Hey, got a sec?" Looking up, Lily saw Maggie staring at her. Nodding, they left the kitchen towards the living room. "So, you and Glenn…" When Lily just stared at her, Maggie sighed. "Is there something between you? I mean, I overheard you two talking yesterday, how you're like siblings, guess I just wanted…"

"Oh…" Lily had to bit her lip to stop herself from smiling. "Glenn is my best friend. He is… The closest thing to a brother I ever had in a long time." Lily said looking away. She loved Glenn dearly, but he would never take the place of her brother.

"So you two never…"

"Oh God, no! No!" When she saw the way Maggie looked away with a blush on her cheeks, Lily knew something had happened to them. "Listen, Glenn is… He is wonderful. He managed to stay cheerful and helpful and… He managed to keep on smiling even with all this going on, you know. I really like him; he helped me when things were very bad… I just, what I am saying is, you should give him a chance, you know. I honestly don't think you're gonna regret it."

Maggie nodded and smiled, appearing to run that over her head.

"He's a good guy…" She said and Lily nodded. When she sensed the conversation was over, she walked back to the kitchen, though Maggie didn't follow. Lily could only hope the two of them would work things out, in her opinion, no one deserved love more than Glenn did, and Maggie seemed like a nice girl.

Deciding the best way to help in the kitchen was washing the dishes; Lily almost broke a plate when they heard a gunshot. All of them rushed out there to see what was going on, especially with Hershel's rule of no gun on the farm.

"What on earth's going on out here?" Hershel demanded.

Lily stayed by Carol's side until she saw Daryl on Rick and Shane's arms. Gasping, she ran towards him, noticing just how terrible he looked.

"What happened? Is he alive? He alive?" She asked, looking at them. Rick nodded, asking for Hershel's help. She followed them, worried beyond her mind.

Rick and Shane put him down a bed and Hershel asked her to step away so he could patch him up. She nodded, leaving the room, wanting nothing more than to go back inside and check Daryl over herself.

"What happened?" She asked Glenn who came up to sit with her and Lori.

"Andrea thought he was a walker… He looked like one too, don't know what happened to him, though he found Sophia's doll." Lily nodded and sighed. As much as she wanted to be mad at Andrea, she could not fault her for shooting at Daryl. Even up close, he did look like a walker.

Rick, Hershel and Shane walked out the room, the first nodding her entrance. Lily did not even bother to say anything to them and rushed inside. When she saw him, she stopped on her tracks. His head bandaged, just like his torso; Hershel had cleaned him up, but he still looked awful.

"Hey." She said, but her voice wavered. Daryl frowned at her, pulling the covers up his chest. Lily breathed in and shakily walked over to his bed. Sitting down, she asked: "What happened?"

"Got shot in the head."

"In the woods, Daryl."

"Damn horse threw me out, fell down a ravine and impaled maself." Lily eyes widened.

"Are you feeling better now?" He ignored her question, huffing. Lily made herself comfortable, laying down next to him and grabbing his hand. "I was worried sick… Don't… Don't do that again."

Daryl frowned at her, but said nothing. Lily stayed in his room in silence, not noticing it when she fell asleep.

"How are you feeling?" Carol asked, waking Lily up with a start, though she remained motionless.

"As good as I look."

"I brought you two some dinner." Carol said, setting two plates down. "You must be starving." Leaning over, Lily saw through half-closed lids Carol plaint a kiss on Daryl's head.

"Watch out, I got stitches." Lily would have smiled had she not noticed then how their fingers were intertwined when Daryl squeezed them a little. She knew she hadn't gone to sleep like that.

"You need to know something." Carol said seriously. "You did more for my little girl today than her own daddy ever did in his whole life."

"I didn't do anything Rick or Shane wouldn't have done."

"I know. You're every bit as good as them. Every bit." Carol left the room.

"She's right. Sometimes I think you're even better." Lily said quietly. Daryl snorted, rolled over and pretended to go to sleep. He didn't let go of her hand, though, so, with one arm wrapped across from him, Lily nestled her head against his shoulder blades. "Aren't you going to eat?"

"Ya hungry?" He asked looking over his shoulders at her.

"Not really." He looked at her for a second before turning away again, squeezing her hand lightly.

They woke up in the middle of the night, and even though their food was cold by then, they ate it without complain. Lily checked his bandages once more, despite his protests, which was difficult because Daryl kept squirming under her touch. She wanted to ask him about all those scars, though she knew just by the look on his eyes that conversation was not going to happen any time soon.

* * *

If there's no reviews, there will be no update.

English is not my mother tongue, if you find a mistake, please let me know.

Thank you,

Mel.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

 **Her Angel, His Strength**

 **12 Secrets**

The next morning, after eating the breakfast Maggie brought them, Hershel came over to examine Daryl. When he said he was good to be moved to their tent, Lily frowned. It appeared as if Hershel didn't want them around the house that much.

With Rick's help, Lily got Daryl back to their tent, helping him lay down trying to look as if she wasn't.

"Ya got nothin' ta do?" He asked when he saw her sitting by his side.

"Nope. You?" He snorted at her, ignoring the question.

"Hey." They both looked up to see Andrea entering the tent. "This is not that great, but…" He handed Daryl a book.

"What, no pictures?"

"I'm so sorry. I feel like shit."

"Yeah, you and me both."

"I don't expect you to forgive me, but if there's anything I can do…"

"Ya were trying ta protect the group. We're good." Lily smiled, ducking her head. "But hey, shoot me again, and ya'd best pray I'm dead."

Andrea smiled, and looking at Lily, she said:

"Shane's gonna set up gun practice. You up for it?"

"Yeah, sure." Lily didn't have to look at Daryl to feel his frown. "You want me to get you something?" She asked, once Andrea left the tent.

"Nah, I'm good." He said.

"All right, I'll go now then. You try and rest." Lily said, leaving before he could say something. She knew Daryl didn't like being taken care of.

Standing up next to Glenn, Lily asked:

"You coming?"

"I gotta help Dale clean the spark plugs on the RV. He said he's gonna teach me mechanics." Glenn said, not looking at her. "I should probably go look for him."

"You found me." Dale said besides them. "He's a good learner."

Lily nodded, and walked over towards the cars.

"Alright then, I'll see you later."

It took a while for Lily to hit her target. Once she did, she got the handle of if, though still missed a few times.

"You're good. Keep focussing; just keep the target in your head." Rick said as he passed by her.

"You think it'll take long before I'm good at it?" She asked Rick, though it was Shane who answered.

"If you keep it up, not too long. Might want to come again tomorrow." She nodded and got back to practice. She was good with her bow, however, at close range, it was useless.

"Hey." Lily said, entering the tent. Daryl looked up from cleaning his crossbow for a second before going back to the task.

"Ya ranger already?" Lily snorted.

"No. Don't think I'm that good at it. We'll be going back tomorrow." He nodded at that as she sat down. He leaned over her and stole a kiss. "About what you said… About Shane. What do you think that happened? With Otis."

"Ya believed his story?" He gave her a look. "I've been around guys who'd lie through their teeth to get the blame out of 'em. Guys who told the lie and believed them themselves." Lily frowned.

"You think… He killed him?"

"That guy's been losin' his mind ever since Rick came back."

"They're best mates. I don't understand why he would lose it if he got his friend back."

"Cause he and Lori had been goin' at it like rabbits before his friend came back." Lily gaped. At her unbelievers' eyes, he said: "caught them in the woods more than once. It was a good thing Rick came back, didn't think I could take more of Shane's hairy ass."

"Oh, my God, Daryl!" Lily exclaimed, blushing, Daryl snorted at her. "Oh God, poor Rick. I think it'd be best if we kept this to ourselves… If Lori or Shane hadn't told him, it really isn't our place, right?" She asked, not entirely sure about that. If she were on Rick's feet, she would want to know; nonetheless, Lori was always a good friend to her; she could not put the woman on the spot like that. Nodding to herself, she stood up. "Right, I'll go grab us some lunch, ok?"

When she saw Glenn later that day, she knew something was wrong with him. He had been acting weird since morning, and not having anything else to do, Lily jogged up to him.

"Hey."

"Hey… How was practice?"

"It was good. Shane said it'd be just a matter of time for me to get good at it."

"Good, good."

"Listen, what's going on?" Lily asked, walking up to stand in front of him. "What got you so worried? Is this about Maggie? Because I talked to her, and I think she likes you too, you know?"

"What? You talked to Maggie? When?"

"Yesterday afternoon. Something happened between the two of you?"

"No. Yes. No." Lily raised an eyebrow.

"Glenn. It's me, I'm not gonna tell anybody, ok?"

"Lori's pregnant. Maggie and I went to the pharmacy again to get her abortion pills." Lily gasped. "Maggie was attacked…"

"Oh, God, she okay?"

"She… They think walkers are humans. They… The barn is full of them, with Maggie's mom and stepbrother there."

Lily couldn't get any word out of her mouth. She just stood there, looking at Glenn, trying to absorb what he had said.

"You can't tell anyone. Not even Daryl." Lily swallowed and nodded.

"What if someone goes close to the barn?"

"It's secure for now. I went there, they can't get out."

"That's a relief." Lily sighed. "I won't tell anyone." Glenn nodded, though he said:

"I will. It's… It's the right thing to do."

* * *

If there's no reviews, there will be no update.

English is not my mother tongue, if you find a mistake, please let me know.

Thank you,

Mel.


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

 **Her Angel, His Strength**

 **13 Pretty Much Dead Already**

Carol served them breakfast. It was funny to think that, even though Daryl got them meat, if he wasn't served, he wouldn't eat. Lily didn't understand that. There was a lot about Daryl that she didn't understand.

Glenn caught her eye. Knowing what he wanted, Lily nodded, saying without words that she'd support him.

"Um, guys." Everyone continued eating, except for Andrea, who was sharpening her knife. "So… The barn is full of walkers." Glenn had the tact of an elephant.

Lily got up with everyone to go look at the barn. While she had already known of that, she hadn't take a good look of it.

"You cannot tell me you're all right with this." Shane said to Rick, Lily could see that something was happening between the two of them.

"No, I'm not, but we're guests here." Rick answered his face hard. "This isn't our land."

"This is our lives! We can't just sweep this under the rug. Okay, we've either got to go in there, we've got to make things right or we've just got to go. Now, we have been talking about Fort Benning for a long time."

"We can't go."

"Why, Rick? Why?"

"Because my daughter is still out there." Carol answered.

"Okay. Okay, I think it's time that we all start to just consider the other possibility." Lily glared at him. How could he even say something like that to Carol?

"We're not leaving Sophia behind." Lily said, scowling at him.

"I'm close to finding this girl. I just found her damn doll two days ago." Daryl said.

"You found her doll, Daryl. That's what you did. You found a doll." Lily could tell that was not going to end well. She started to walk up to Daryl, seeing he still had stiches.

"You don't know what the hell you're talking about."

"I'm just saying what needs to be said." Shane went on, ignoring Rick's plea to stop it. "You get a good lead, it's in the first. Let me tell you something else, man. If she was alive out there and saw you coming all methed out with your buck knife and geek ears around your neck, she would run in the other direction."

Daryl went for him. Lily went for Daryl with everyone else to try stopping the fight from escalating. She now understood what Daryl meant when he said Shane was loosing it.

"Now, just let me talk to Hershel." Rick said. "Let me figure it out."

"What are you gonna figure out?!" Shane asked incredulous.

"If we're gonna stay, if we're gonna clear this barn, I have to talk him into it." Rick tried to reason with Shane, and everyone else. "This is his land."

"Hershel sees those things in there as people, sick people, his wife, his stepson." Dale said, surprising everyone.

"You knew?"

"Yesterday I talked to Hershel."

"And you waited the night?"

"I thought we could survive one more night. We did." Dale said, his face hard as he faced Shane. Apparently, Shane wasn't all that liked anymore on the group. Lily wondered if Dale also thought he killed Otis. "I was waiting till this morning to say something. But Glenn wanted to be the one."

"The man is crazy, Rick, if Hershel thinks those things are alive or not."

They dispersed, with Rick going to find Hershel and asking to everyone to keep calm and don't do anything stupid. Lily thought the last warning was directed specifically to Shane.

"Stay away from that barn." Daryl said to her while they were going back.

"You know, how long for have we been here? We didn't know about the walkers, and we were fine. What changed?"

"Now we know." He said, and walked away without looking back. She frowned, but let it go; it was not as if she wanted to stay near the barn anyway.

She had just finished putting the laundry away when she saw Daryl walk past her and into their tent, a few minutes later, Carol coming into view. Lily frowned when she saw the woman's tears.

"Carol?" She asked quietly, coming closer. "Something happened?"

"Oh, just… Daryl was trying to go look for Sophia again… We had an argument."

"He wants to find her." Lily said trying to understand what had happened between the two of them.

"I know. I just don't want him getting worse… I told him- I told him I don't know if we're gonna find her."

"Carol…" Lily bit her lip. She didn't want to give any false hope, but… "If we lose hope, we may as well quit now." Carol looked at her, but she could see the woman had already lost her faith. "Hey, I'll talk to him, okay? You go clean up and rest.

"Hey." Lily said, stepping into the tent, Daryl grunted in reply. "Look, I talked to Carol."

"Yeah? Dumb bitch couldn't watch for her daughter, now can't care enough ta look for her."

"Daryl." Lily scowled at him. "This isn't Carol's fault. Don't you dare take it out on her. How do you think she's feeling? Her daughter has been gone for, what? Has it been four days now? Five? Before, it was a tough chance of finding a little girl lost in the woods, how do you think it is now? You think Carol doesn't know this? Her hope is scratched thin; she is trying to accept the fact that maybe Sophia is gone for good. And you know what; you can't blame her for this. You can't. You can just give her hope to go on."

"I just found the damn doll."

"And Shane just pointed out, in front of her and everybody else, that her doll was all you found!"

"N ya think he's right? That's whatcha tellin' me?"

"I think we will find her. I do, I just don't know in what estate." Daryl glared at her, and, before he could get up to leave, she tried to amend: "I want to find her alive, Daryl. I really do." Lily sighed. "Just… Just don't take your frustrations out on Carol, all right? She already has too much to deal with without you getting on her face." Walking up to him, Lily pressed her lips to his. It was the first time, ever since their first kiss that she had initiated the contact.

Lily didn't know if he was going to apologise, but she hoped he would. Daryl was a good person with good intentions, but did not know how to deal with people.

She could see Glenn and Maggie walking up towards the house, holding hands. Lily was glad for them, happy that at least someone was having a good time. Glenn smiled when he saw her, sitting next to her on the steps.

"Hey."

"Hey, yourself." Lily smiled watching a faint blush tint his cheeks. Maggie sat down next to them.

"You look like you should be in line for the early bird special." She said, taking Dale's hat from Glenn. "Go get your cap. I'll wash it for you, okay?" However, before Glenn could get up, T-Dog and Andrea called out:

"Do you know what's going on?"

"You haven't seen Rick?"

"He went off with Hershel."

"We were supposed to leave a couple hours ago."

"Yeah, you were." Daryl said, coming into view with Carol. Lily was glad to see that there was not any tears in her eyes this time. "What the hell? Isn't anybody takin' this seriously? We got us a damn trail." When Daryl saw Shane, he walked over to him. "Oh, here we go."

"You with me, man?" Shane asked, handing him a riffle.

"Yeah." Lily did not know what Shane was talking about, but apparently, Daryl did.

"Time to grow up. You already got yours?" He asked Andrea.

"Yeah. Where's Dale?"

"He's on his way."

"Thought we couldn't carry." T-Dog said in confusion, accepting the gun.

"We can and we have to. Look, it was one thing sitting around here picking daisies when we thought this place was supposed to be safe. But now we know it ain't." Walking up to Glenn, he asked: "How about you, man? You gonna protect yours?" Glenn accept it, after hesitating. "That's it. Can you shoot?"

"Can you stop?" Maggie retorted. "You do this, you hand out these guns, my dad will make you leave tonight."

"We have to stay, Shane." Carl said.

"What is this?" Lori asked coming out the house.

"We ain't going anywhere, okay? Now look, Hershel, he's just gotta understand. Okay? He- well, he's gonna have to. Now we need to find Sophia. Am I right? Huh? Now, I want you to take this." Shane replied, holding a fire gun to Carl. "You take it, Carl, and you keep your mother safe. You do whatever it takes. You know how. Go on, take the gun and do it."

"Rick said no guns." Lori hissed at him, stepping in front of Carl. "This is not your call. This is not your decision to make."

"Oh shit." T-Dog exclaimed and everyone looked as Jimmy, Hershel and Rick walked into view holding two walkers in sticks.

"What is that? What is that?" Shane screamed, running towards them, the rest of the group hot on his heels. "What the hell are you doing? Are you kidding me? You see? You see what they're holding onto?"

"I see who I'm holding onto." Hershel said.

"No, man, you don't."

"Shane, just let us do this and then we can talk."

"What you want to talk about, Rick? These things ain't sick. They're not people. They're dead. Ain't gonna feel nothing for them 'cause all they do, they kill! These things right here, they're the things that killed Amy. They killed Otis. They're gonna kill all of us."

"Shane, shut up!" Rick bellowed at him

"Hey, Hershel man, let me ask you something. Could a living breathing person, could they walk away from this?" He asked, shooting the walker Hershel was holding. Lily screamed, but it was lost as more people did. "That's three rounds in the chest. Could someone who's alive, could they just take that?! Why is it still coming? That's its heart, its lungs. Why is it still coming?"

"Shane, enough."

"Yeah, you're right, man." He said, finally stopping the shooting. "That is enough. Enough risking our lives for a little girl who's gone! Enough living next to a barn full of things that are trying to kill us. Enough. Rick, it ain't like it was before! Now if y'all want to live, if you want to survive, you got to fight for it! I'm talking about fighting right here, right now."

With that, he walked over to the barn and broke down the locks. Lily gasped, holding onto Carol's arm. T-Dog, Andrea and Daryl went over to help shoot at the walkers, and, after a while, so did Glenn. Lily stared at them in disbelief. Shane had indeed lost it.

When it finally stopped, everyone was silent. Lily could see Beth crying in Jimmy's arms, Hershel had not moved from his kneeled position ever since Shane shot the walker he was holding onto in the head. When something snarled in the barn, everyone tensed again. A little girl came out.

"Sophia?" Carol asked beside her. Lily didn't have the time to process what happened when the woman freed herself from her hand and started to run towards the walker. Towards her lost daughter. "Sophia! Sophia. Sophia."

The tears appeared in her eyes without her even noticing. No one was making a move to kill that little walker now, not even Shane. No one but Rick.

* * *

If there's no reviews, there will be no update.

English is not my mother tongue, if you find a mistake, please let me know.

Thank you,

Mel.


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

 **Her Angel, His Strength**

 **14 Nebraska**

Lily could only watch as Carol freed herself from Daryl and ran away from the scene. When Beth's mother tried to bite her, she came back to herself and started to walk towards them, though when she got there, the Greenes were already making their way towards the house. Shaking her head, Lily thought the best for her to do was to stay with Carol.

Entering the RV, the shorthaired woman looked at her, not saying a word. Lily sat down across from her and took Carol's hands on hers, giving a gentle squeeze. Carol's eyes returned to the window.

After a few minutes of silence, the door of the RV opened up again, this time to reveal Daryl. He did not say anything, choosing to stand nearby.

"They're ready." It was Lori. "Come on."

"Why?" Carol asked softly.

"Cause that's your little girl." Daryl answered her.

"That's not my little girl. That's some other thing. My Sophia was alone in the woods. All this time I thought… She didn't cry herself to sleep. She didn't go hungry. She didn't try to find her way back. Sophia died a long time ago." Lily brushed away a few tears down her face. She didn't want Carol to see them.

She went to the service, though, this time, Hershel didn't say a word as he did for Otis. After a while, they all dispersed. Lily, who had no idea what to do with herself, chose to follow Daryl. When he started to dismantle their tent, she asked:

"Are we going somewhere?" Ignoring her, he took their things away, far away from camp. Lily frowned, not knowing what that meant. At least he took her bag with him, which meant he still expected her to sleep with him.

Sighing, she went back to the house, and sat down the steps. Lost on her mind, she didn't hear Glenn the first time he asked:

"Lily? Hey Lils!"

"What? Glenn?"

"Have you seen Hershel?"

"No. Not since the… No, I haven't."

"Listen, Beth… She collapsed, we don't know what happened, can you go take a look at her?"

"What's wrong with her?" Maggie asked when she got into the room with Lori.

"She might be in shock." Lily said, looking at the younger girl.

"Where's Hershel?" Lori asked, looking around the room.

"We can't find him anywhere."

Maggie asked Lily to stay with Beth and Patricia while the others went to look for Hershel. Nodding, she pressed her hand to the girl's forehead. If she stayed like this for long, they would need to hydrate her.

"I told Glenn I love him." Maggie said, after coming back and Patricia left.

"Oh?"

"He didn't answer. Just stood there, looking at me."

"Give him time. Guys were stupid before all this, imagine now. You probably took him by surprise." Lily tried to console her. "You know what? Glenn… He's been bewitched by you ever since you came up on us on that horse, saving Andrea."

Maggie laughed, tears glistening on her eyes. Smiling, Lily looked back at Beth.

"Oh God, Maggie!"

"Patricia! Patricia!"

"Her heart's racing."

"She's burning up."

Lily got a damp towel and placed it on Beth's forehead. She opened the window and ran the towel down to her neck and back, not knowing what else to do.

"Maybe we should start the IV." Patricia said, looking at Maggie.

"No. No, it is still too early; her body might go into shock. Let's wait a few more hours, maybe she'll come back by herself." Lily said, trying to put confidence on her own voice. Beth had to be okay. It would be too much, too soon for them to lose another.

* * *

If there's no reviews, there will be no update.

English is not my mother tongue, if you find a mistake, please let me know.

Thank you,

Mel.


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

 **Her Angel, His Strength**

 **15 Triggerfinger**

Patricia said she was heading down to the kitchen to start the dinner. With everything that happened on that day, Lily hadn't realised she had not eaten ever since breakfast. It seemed so long ago, when they still had Sophia and Beth wasn't on a catatonic state.

When diner was ready, Maggie and Lily went downstairs to join the rest.

"They should've been back by now."

"They just got holed up somewhere. We'll... We'll head out first thing in the morning." Shane said.

"Lori, dinner." Carol called.

"She's not in there."

"Where is she?" No one answered.

"Carl, when's the last time you saw your mom?" Shane asked.

"This afternoon." They all looked at each other for a second.

"Nobody panic. Gonna be around here somewhere." Lily got up with the rest of them to look for Lori.

After a futile look around the farm, the group gathered around in front of the house.

"Well, where is she?" Carl asked.

"She asked Daryl to go into town. Must've gone herself." Carol answered, a little out of breath. Shane left after asking Dale if she had gotten any gun with her. Lily walked over to where Daryl had set up the tent before.

"Daryl?" She walked into the tent, where he was laying down.

"She sent ya?"

"No. Just missed you." He looked away from her. "Why are your tent up here?"

"Got to get away from those people."

"Why?" He ignored her, closing his eyes. "Daryl…" When he didn't look up, Lily sat down by his side, her hand coming to rest on his chest. "Have you eaten?"

"No."

"Yeah, me neither." Lily sighed. "This day just won't end, will it?" She asked, laying down next to him, her head resting by her hand on his chest. They stayed like that for a while, until Daryl stood up and walked out of the tent.

"Stay there.

"I don't want you here!" She heard him scream. Getting up, she walked over to see with whom he was talking. "Ya're a real piece of work, lady. What, are ya gonna make this about my daddy or some crap like that? Pfft! Ya're afraid. Ya're afraid cause ya're all alone. Ya got no husband, no daughter. Ya don't know what ta do with yaself. Ya ain't my problem! _Sophia wasn't mine_! All ya had ta do was keep an eye on her!" Lily frowned at his words. Daryl was being plain cruel to a woman who did nothing but try to befriend him.

Daryl got back to the tent, almost stepping on her. He looked at her for a moment, before heading back to his sleeping bag.

"Daryl…" Lily bit her lip. She knew she would not get her point when he was like that. She did not know what he was feeling, but knowing that he looked for Sophia every day, got hurt on the process, gave Carol's hope to hold onto for nothing… "I'm sorry."

"She wasn't my problem."

"I know… I'm sorry still." They stayed silent for a few minutes, each lost in their own pain, until Lily stomach growled loud. She blushed, pressing her hand on her tummy. Daryl snorted and got back outside, this time, she followed him.

He skinned and cooked a squirrel for them. While it was nothing compared to the food Patricia had prepared them, Lily thought it was delicious.

After eating, Lily crawled over to his sleeping bag, ignoring hers. It had been a while since they shared one. Daryl made no comment about it, laying down next to her and putting his arm under her head. Lily was glad that, even though he seemed to be pulling away from everyone else, he still let her in.

The next morning, Lily exited the tent just after Daryl. When she noticed the wings on his vest, she walked over and lightly touched them.

"Angel." He turned around to face her.

"Thought ya'd like that." She smiled, tracing his cheek with her fingerprints.

"Angel." She repeated, before pulling his head down so their lips could meet.

Daryl was going to town with Shane and Andrea to look for Glenn, Hershel and Rick. Lily was glad that Lori was back, feeling just a little guilty for not checking it before; she smiled at the woman when she saw her. The three just got ready to go when they heard the sound of an engine.

Maggie ran over them, sidestepping her father to hug Glenn. When he didn't return the hug, Lily knew something was up.

"Patricia, prepare the shed for surgery." Hershel asked, walking inside.

"Who the hell is that?" T-Dog asked, pointing at the car. It was just then that Lily noticed a boy with a blindfold.

"That's Randall." Glenn answered casually.

They got him into the house so Hershel could stich him up, now everyone understanding the need of his words before. Lily stayed with Daryl as she watched everyone go in.

"Shouldn't we go and see what that is all about?" He snorted, bringing her closer. Their kisses were always innocent, never more than pecks, really. Lily did not know why Daryl never tried to deepen it, but she was not going to ask. In a way, she was happy with what they had. She feared that if they were to go down the next steps, her mind would revert to her days in the cabin with her two captors. She had a feeling Daryl knew about that and was waiting for her lead. Her nightmares, while not as constant as before, still gnawed at her.

"He's not a threat." Rick was saying when they got back inside.

"Not a threat. How many of them were there? You killed three of their men, you took one of them hostage, but they just ain't gonna come looking?"

"They left him for dead. No one is looking."

"He's out cold right now, will be for hours." Hershel said.

"You know what? I'm gonna go get him some flowers and candy." Shane scoffed. "Look at this, folks... We back in fantasy land." Shane said starting to walk away.

"You know, we haven't even dealt with what you did at my barn yet. Let me make this perfectly clear, once and for all... This is my farm. Now I wanted you gone. Rick talked me out of it, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. So do us both a favour... Keep your mouth shut."

"We're not gonna do anything about it today. Let's just cool off." Rick said after Shane left. The group dispersed after that, Daryl holding onto her arm, led her out of the house.

"What do you think of this? Randall." Daryl shrugged, not really knowing the answer. He didn't know the kid, didn't know his story. "From what Rick said, his group is not looking for him. Maybe it'd be best to send him away."

"Yeah and when he find his group, what happens?" Lily bit her lip, not knowing what to answer.

"Perhaps we could take him in?" Daryl stared at her. Scoffing, he kept on walking.

"Ya gonna get us killed, baby."

"Good thing I have an angel looking out for me, then, huh?"

* * *

If there's no reviews, there will be no update.

English is not my mother tongue, if you find a mistake, please let me know.

Thank you,

Mel.


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

 **Her Angel, His Strength**

 **16 18 Miles Out**

It took a whole week for Randall to be deemed good enough for Rick and Shane to drop him somewhere far from them. From what she had been told, 18 miles out. In that week, Daryl had removed his stiches and was back to hunting for the group. Lily had gone a few times with him to make sure he wasn't extending himself, though she told him she wanted to look at the vegetation. She didn't think it was all necessary anymore, considering they were all living off Hershel's farm, but in the end, she had grabbed a few interesting plants she had found.

Considering she only had one lesson in gun training, Daryl started to take her far into the woods for practicing. Sometimes, a stray walker would wander towards them, attracted by the gunshots, so Lily got the chance to try the real thing. While she was not as good as the others, she was getting there, and it was all that mattered to her.

Even though Daryl was not the most patient teacher around, she liked him better than Shane, Rick, or T-Dog, though that must be because of the rewards he gave her when she would hit the target on her first try. These rewards consisted mostly on sweet kisses, a pat and, the ones she liked most, a smile and a quick massage on her shoulders at night to relieve the pain from the recoil of the gun.

Lily and Daryl were not displaying their affections openly; however, the whole camp came to the understanding that they were a couple now. Lily and Daryl had not talked about what they were, and while she wanted to know if he considered them boyfriend and girlfriend, she was happy with what they had.

Lily was going into the house after the practice of the day when she ran into an unhappy Andrea.

"Hey, you ok?"

"Yeah, just- are you going inside?"

"Yes, I want to take a shower."

"Listen, I don't know if now is a good time. Beth… She was considering suicide." Lily eyes widened.

"Oh, my God."

"She made her choice now." At Lily's panicked graze, she continued: "she chose to live! Lori said she didn't want me there with her because… Said I don't pull my weight around, that we, the women that is, should stick to laundry and cooking. Considering you're going out every day with Daryl to learn how to shoot, maybe you don't want to listen to the same bullshit I had to." With that, Andrea walked past her and left. Lily had never knew that the women were expected to do these kind of chores, she just thought that they did because they did not know, and had no interest in knowing, how to defend the camp.

Lily did laundry with Carol, but always made sure to be nowhere around when they were cooking, and she liked to spend the time with Maggie when she was tending to the livestock, so she didn't think she wouldn't be welcome in the house now. Besides, she and Maggie had become good friends, considering that when Lily was not doing anything, she was with Glenn, and Maggie tended to be around him a lot. It would seem the roles between them had exchanged.

Glenn blamed Maggie for his selfishness when they met Randall, having hidden himself instead of protecting Rick and Hershel, Maggie did not understand why he would act that way. Lily was the carrier pigeon between the two.

Entering the house, she saw Maggie sitting on the sofa, face wet with tears.

"Hey." She said, sitting by her side. "I ran into Andrea." At the blonde-haired woman's name, Maggie scoffed. "Maggie, I'm sorry. What happened? Is Beth ok now? Andrea said she chose to live."

"She cut her wrist open, that's what she did. Dad's inside now, patching her up." Lily nodded, hugging Maggie with one arm.

"She'll be ok, tough?" Maggie nodded. "So it seems to me that Beth is good now, she didn't go through with it, and won't try again; you can all put this in the past. I think you have nothing to worry anymore. She'll be just fine." Maggie sighed loudly but nodded. Squeezing her arm, Lily asked: "do you need something?"

"No, I'm good. You need to shower though, you stink." Lily gasped at her, smiling. Pushing Maggie, she stood.

"I think you are much better than I thought. Silly me, all worried. Let's see if that happens again." Walking away, she decided she would shower first and see Beth later.

* * *

This will be the last chapter until the end of Season 6.

If there's no reviews, there will be no update.

English is not my mother tongue, if you find a mistake, please let me know.

Thank you,

Mel.


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

 **Her Angel, His Strength**

 **17 Judge, Jury, Executioner**

"We won't go out today." Daryl said to Lily while she was eating her breakfast.

"Why not?"

"Gotta do somethin' Rick asked." Lily frowned but didn't have the chance to question him further as Daryl was already walking away.

Rick and Shane had come back with Randall the day before because the boy knew Maggie from school. No one knew how to deal with that situation, except Shane who thought the best solution was to kill the boy.

"We gonna keep him here?" Someone asked, breaking Lily's train of thought.

"We'll know soon enough." Rick answered looking at Daryl who was making his way back.

"Boy there's got a gang, 30 men. They have heavy artillery and they ain't lookin' ta make friends. They roll through here our boys are dead. And our women, they're gonna - they're gonna wish they were." He stole a glance at Lily.

"What did you do?" Carol asked when she saw his bloodied knuckles.

"Had a little chat." Carol walked away, apparently disappointed.

"No one goes near this guy." Rick ordered.

"Rick, what are you gonna do?"

"We have no choice. He's a threat. We have to eliminate the threat."

"You're just gonna kill him?" Dale asked, shocked.

"It's settled. I'll do it today." With that, Rick walked away.

Everyone started to disperse after that, though Lily stayed where she was. Rick made it sound so simple; just kill the boy. A boy that couldn't be much older than her, a boy who was somebody's something. Was that what they had become?

"Lily?" She started when she felt Dale's hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah?"

"You don't agree with Rick's way of dealing with this, do you?"

"You mean Randall? Of course not! But… I don't know what the best answer to this is either."

"We could put him to work. Give him a chance to prove himself."

"Maybe…" She sighed. "Though I honestly don't think anyone else will agree with us."

"I talked to Rick, he gave me until sunset to talk to everyone, try to change their minds."

"I hope you can, Dale, I truly do." He smiled at her, patting her shoulder.

And she did. It shouldn't be this way, killing someone off shouldn't be this easy. Lily still had nightmares from the walkers she killed; it was silly, considering the threat they were, but she couldn't help it.

Lily helped Carol fold the dry clothes in silence, seeing that when she asked the older woman's opinion on the matter, she said she didn't want to get involved in this. For some reason, Lily had the feeling Carol did not care for her much, though she always brushed off, as Sophia's death was still too fresh.

"Dale talked to you yet?" She asked as she neared Daryl's tent.

"Yep."

"What did you say?"

"It doesn't matter none ta me. It'd be better if the boy's dead." Lily sighed. Of course, Daryl would think that way.

"I think Dale's right. We cannot just go around killing everyone we meet. It isn't right."

"It won't matter anyway. Don't think many'll agree with ya, the boy will be dead by the end of the day. Better accept it now." Scowling at him, Lily entered the tent to put their clothes away.

"Has Carol talked to you about me?" Lily asked on their way to their tent after eating lunch. At his frown, she sighed. "I think she's mad at me..."

"Why?"

"I don't know… We used to talk before, now she just… Now we don't."

"She lost her little girl. Got stuff on her mind."

"Yeah… That's what I thought, but I think it's just me, you know? When Lori's around, the two talk normally, and when is just the two of us, she ignores me."

"Let her, she just doesn't know what she wanna." Lily looked at him in confusion. _What?_

"What do you mean?" He ignored her. Lily hated when he did that. "Andrea said Lori was angry with her for not helping around with laundry and cooking… I thought that maybe it was because I don't help much either, but she seems alright with Andrea, so…" Lily was not even talking with Daryl anymore; she was just talking to herself.

"Forget about her. Ya shouldn't do anything ya don't wanna. Ya help around." Lily smiled at him. Daryl was terrible with human interaction, but he always had a little something to say to make her feel better.

When the time came to meet up with the others inside the house, she stood in front of him, his arms circling her from behind.

"So how do we do this? Just take a vote?" Glenn asked.

"Does it have to be unanimous?"

"Well, let's- let's just see where everybody stands, then we can talk through the options."

"Well, where I sit, there's only one way to move forward." Shane said.

"Killing him, right? I mean, why even bother to even take a vote? It's clear which way the wind's blowing." Dale replied, angry.

"Well, if people believe we should spare him, I wanna know."

"Well, I can tell you it's a small group. Maybe just me, Lily and Glenn."

"Look, I- I think you're pretty much right about everything, all the time, but this-" Glenn said, the tone on his voice patronising.

"They've got you scared." Dale accused.

"He's not one of us. And we've- we've lost too many people already."

"How about you? Do you agree with this?" Dale asked, pointing at Maggie.

"Couldn't we continue keeping him prisoner?"

"Just another mouth to feed." Daryl answered from behind her.

"It may be a lean winter." Hershel agreed, much to Lily's dismay. She thought Hershel for sure would be against something like that.

"We could ration better." Lori said.

"Well, he could be an asset. Give him a chance to prove himself."

"We're not letting him walk around." Rick denied.

"We could put an escort on him."

"Who wants to volunteer for that duty?" Shane asked, his tone mocking.

"I will." Dale retorted, his voice desperate.

"Look, say we let him join us, right? Maybe he's helpful; maybe he's nice. We let our guard down and maybe he runs off, brings back his 30 men." Shane said when the discussion escalated.

"So the answer is to kill him to prevent a crime that he may never even attempt? If we do this, we're saying there's no hope. Rule of law is dead. There is no civilization." His beg had Shane scoffing.

"If you go through with it, how would you do it? Would he suffer?" Patricia asked.

"We could hang him, right? Just snap his neck." Shane replied.

"I thought about that. Shooting may be more humane." Rick stated.

"And what about the body? Do we bury him?" T-Dog asked.

"Hold on, hold on! You're talking about this like it's already decided." Dale cried.

"Ya've been talkin' all day, goin' around in circles. Ya just wanna go around in circles again?" Daryl said and Lily knew he was getting exasperated, circling around her once and pulling her back into him.

"This is a young man's life, and it is worth more than a five-minute conversation! Is this what it's come to? We kill someone because we can't decide what else to do with him? You saved him and now look at us. He's been tortured. He's gonna be executed. How are we any better than those people that we're so afraid of?" Lily could tell that Dale was close to tears.

"Stop it. Just stop it. I'm sick of everybody arguing and fighting. I didn't ask for this. You can't ask us to decide something like this. Please decide. Either of you, both of you. But leave me out." Carol said, surprising most of them.

"Not speaking out or killing him yourself- there's no difference."

"All right, that's enough." Rick commanded, before anyone could go on. "Anybody who wants the floor before we make a final decision has the chance." A few sat down, no one looking at Dale.

"You once said that we don't kill the living. If we do this, the people that we were… The world that we knew is dead. And this new world is ugly. It's... Harsh. It's- it's survival of the fittest. And that's a world I don't wanna live in, and I don't- and I don't believe that any of you do. I can't. Please. Let's just do what's right. Isn't there anybody else who's gonna stand with me?"

"I do. I agree with Dale." Lily said for the first time, attracting the eyes of everyone. Uncomfortable, she tried to explain herself, not noticing her tightening fingers on Daryl's: "it isn't right to kill him for a crime he didn't commit, to just execute him for something he has no blame, just because we're afraid. If I… If I ever got separated from you, I wouldn't want- I would want the people who find me to give me a chance and not just kill me off for no reason at all."

"They're right." Andrea said, after a minute of silence. "We should try to find another way."

"Anybody else?" When no one made a move to say anything, Dale's eyes filled with tears.

"Are y'all gonna watch, too? No, you'll go hide your heads in your tents and try to forget that we're slaughtering a human being. Whoa... I won't be a party to it." He said walking away from the group, stopping at Lily and Daryl's side, he put a hand on the man's shoulder. "This group _is_ broken."

Exiting the house, Daryl pushed her gently towards Andrea. Lily smiled sadly at the woman as they walked quietly towards camp. Even though they all agreed with Rick and Shane, no one appeared comfortable with what was going on the barn.

"We're keeping him in custody, for now." Rick said when he came back with Carl. Lily breathed a sigh of relief, thinking about Dale. He'd be so happy.

"I'm gonna find Dale." Andrea smiled.

"I'm going with you." Lily said, walking with her. Their happiness was cut short by a terrified scream.

"Dale?" Andrea asked, running towards the sound, Lily hot on her heals.

"Help! Over here! Help!" Daryl shouted waving his arms.

"Who is it?"

"Oh, my God, Dale." Lily gasped when she saw him. His stomach was torn apart, a dead walker by his side. Andrea left her side to knell besides the fallen man.

"Get Hershel! He needs blood." Rick screamed. Lily only shook her head. She knew there was nothing they could do for Dale.

"Just hold on- hold on."

"What happened?" Hershel arrived.

"What can we do?"

"Dale, it's gonna be okay." Andrea was sobbing.

"Can we move him?"

"He won't make the trip."

"You have to do the operation here. Glenn, get back to the house."

"Rick." Hershel shook his head at their leader, confirming Lily's thoughts.

" _No_!"

"He's suffering. Do something!" Andrea begged.

"I'm sorry, brother." She knew Dale was as good as dead, but she could not help it. Lily flinched at the gunshot.

* * *

If there's no reviews, there will be no update.

English is not my mother tongue, if you find a mistake, please let me know.

Thank you,

Mel.


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

 **Her Angel, His Strength**

 **18 Better Angels**

Lily couldn't sleep that night. Looking at everyone now, she knew only a few had.

"C'me here." Daryl had said, getting inside her sleeping bag after waiting for her to stop crying and try to sleep. Even with him holding her, she could not stop. That is how they spent their night.

"Dale could- could get under your skin. He sure got under mine, because he wasn't afraid to say exactly what he thought, how he felt. That kind of honesty is rare and brave." They were having a service for Dale, Lily was by Glenn's side, gripping his hand with tears running down her face. "Whenever I'd make a decision, I'd look at Dale. He'd be looking back at me with that look he had. We've all seen it one time or another. I couldn't always read him, but he could read us. He saw people for who they were. He knew things about us. The truth... Who we really are. In the end, he was talking about losing our humanity. He said this group was broken. The best way to honour him is to unbreak it. Set aside our differences and pull together, stop feeling sorry for ourselves and take control of our lives... Our safety... Our future. We're not broken. We're gonna prove him wrong. From now on... We're gonna do it his way. That is how we honour Dale." For some reason, Lily wanted to scream at Rick. It was ridiculous that it took Dale's death for him to decide that he had been right.

Hershel was going to let them stay on his house. Lily had no idea how they were all going to fit in, though she would not complain; the nights were getting colder.

"Ya go get us a good spot, baby." Daryl said to her, giving her his bag. Nodding, Lily looked for Maggie.

"Hey, how are we doing this?"

"Carol and Andrea are taking one of the guests' room. The guys are buking in with Jimmy. There's still two more, though one's Patricia's. Doubt she'd mind if you wanna share, though."

"Hm, I'm staying with Daryl. You think it's ok if we choose one?"

"Nah, go ahead. Sure wish Glenn would stop being a jackass and stay with me."

Lily helped around, moving the camp to the house and later, securing it. After bumping into someone for the third time, she knew it would be very tight fitting for everyone.

"Hey, I got us a bedroom upstairs." She told Daryl as he walked into her.

"Good. Gonna go drop the garbage with Rick."

"Don't talk of Randall like that!" Daryl gave her a look that made her sigh. "Fine, be careful." She said, getting on tiptoes and kissing him.

A while later, while she was washing the dishes as Carol and Lori started dinner; a commotion was heard outside the house. Following the others, Lily saw that Rick and Daryl were still in the farm, Randall nowhere to be seen.

"What's wrong?"

"The cuffs are still hooked. He must' slipped 'em." Randall had gotten away.

"Is that possible?" Carol asked.

"It is if you've got nothing to lose." Andrea answered her.

"The door was secured from the outside." Hershel commented as he examined the door of the barn.

"Rick! Rick!" Shane appeared from the woods, his face bloodied.

"What happened?"

"He's armed! He's got my gun! Little bastard just snuck up on me. He clocked me in the face." Lily had stolen only a few glances of Randall, but she found hard to believe that guy could get a jump on Shane, and by Daryl's look, he agreed with her.

"All right, Hershel, T-Dog, get everybody back in the house. Glenn, Daryl, come with us." Rick said, making Lily grab Daryl's hand. He looked at her and nodded, squeezing him once Lily let him go. "Lock all the doors and stay put!"

It was night and they weren't back yet. Lily couldn't stay put, walking in circles.

"Daryl's strong. He'll come back to us." Carol said to her, surprising Lily.

"Yeah…" She agreed, but the tightening feeling inside her just intensified.

* * *

If there's no reviews, there will be no update.

English is not my mother tongue, if you find a mistake, please let me know.

Thank you,

Mel.


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

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Moreover, thank you to those who have favorited and/or followed this story!

 **Her Angel, His Strength**

 **19 Beside the Dying Fire**

"I'm going after them." Andrea stated, tired of waiting, just as Lily was.

"Don't, they could be anywhere. And if Randall comes back, we're gonna need you here." Lori said just as the front door opened and Daryl and Glenn appeared. Lily felt the relief wash over her instantly.

"Rick and Shane ain't back?" Daryl asked after looking at them.

"No."

"We heard a shot." He said, looking around as if wanting to see who was hurt.

"Maybe they found Randall."

"We found him."

"Is he back in the shed?" Patricia asked.

"He's a walker."

"Did you find the walker that bit him?" Hershel asked.

"No, the weird thing is he wasn't bit." Lily frowned. _How was that possible?_

"His neck was broken." Glenn continued.

"So he fought back." Patricia said, doubting her own words.

"The thing is Shane and Randall's tracks were right on top of each other. And Shane ain't no tracker, so he didn't come up behind him. They were together." Lily had a feeling she knew what caused Randall's neck to snap.

"Would you please get back out there, find Rick and Shane and find out what on earth is going on?" Lori asked Daryl. Lily was just about to get to her feet to deny it, send the woman to look after them herself if she wanted to, when Daryl agreed. She glared at him, _how could he do that? He just got back!_ She had just thought of making him sleep with Jimmy and T-Dog when he came back.

"Ya wanna see this."

Lily could not breathe. It was just too much of them, she never saw so many walkers together before. They had to leave now.

"Maybe they're just passing, like the herd on the highway." Glenn tried. "Should we just go inside?"

"Not unless there's a tunnel downstairs I don't know about." Daryl replied not taking his eyes from the massive herd heading their way. "A herd that size would rip the house down."

"Carl's gone." Lori cried. "He... He was upstairs. I can't find him anymore."

"Maybe he's hiding."

"He's supposed to be upstairs." The mother screamed. "I'm not leaving without my boy."

"We're not. We're gonna look again. We're gonna find him." Carol said, going with Lori inside the house just as Maggie came out holding their bag of guns and Lily's bow and quiver.

"Maggie." Glenn said surprised when she got a riffle for herself.

"You grow up country; you pick up a thing or two."

"I got the number... It's no use." Daryl said.

"You can go if you want." Hershel replied, reading his weapon.

"Ya gonna take 'em all on?"

"We have guns. We have cars."

"Kill as many as we can, and we'll use the cars to lead the rest of them off the farm." Andrea agreed.

"Are you serious?" Lily questioned in disbelief, her brown doe eyes widening.

"This is my farm. I'll die here."

"All right. It's as good a night as any." Daryl said, jumping the porch and heading for his bike. "C'me on, baby."

"Daryl!"

"There's no way in hell ya leavin' my sight tonight." Lily swallowed and, with trembling fingers, got her handgun ready.

Lily could only be grateful for the gun training she had before. She had no idea how many walkers she had killed that night, but it was more than she had ever even seen before. Holding onto Daryl with only one hand and firing with the other, she knew she missed more than she got her target.

"Daryl! Look, the barn's on fire. There must be someone in there!" She saw him look on the direction she pointed and turned around, heading towards it.

" _Yo_!" He screamed at Jimmy, getting closer to the RV. "Must've been Rick or Shane who started that fire. Maybe they're trying ta get out back! Why don't ya circle around?" Jimmy nodded and left.

"Daryl, I'm out." Lily said, putting her gun inside her pants and grabbing her bow. She wouldn't be able to shoot with it while they were moving.

"There's nothing left. We gotta go."

"Where? What about the others?"

"Do ya hear it?"

"What?"

"The gunshots." When Lily frowned, realising they had stopped, he continued: "they must have left too. Rick and Glenn'd go ta the highway where we lost Sophia." With that, he revived the engine and they walked away from the farm.

The sun was raising when Lily asked Daryl to stop. When he looked at her, she grabbed his face in her hands and brought his lips to hers. For the first time, she prodded them open with her tongue. Daryl pushed away from her, turning all the way around, he pulled her back towards him, one hand holding her face and the other grabbing her long brunette hair as their tongues massaged one another, exploring the other's mouth. The sound of a car stopped their kiss.

"Look! Look, Daryl! That's the car Glenn and Maggie were in, wasn't it? It was, wasn't it?"

"Sit back down. Hold on." Lily wanted to scream in happiness. _Glenn and Maggie were alive! The others must be too!_ It didn't take long for them to find another car, this one with T-Dog, Lori, Carol and Beth inside. A while later, they stopped at the highway where Hershel, Rick and Carl were.

The bike hadn't stopped when Lily jumped out of it and crashed into Glenn. He hugged her tight.

"I knew you'd be okay, I knew it!" He whispered into her hair.

"Where'd you find everyone?" Rick asked Daryl.

"Well, those guys' tail lights zigzaggin' all over the road. Figured he had to be Asian, drivin' like that." Daryl said, making Glenn laugh.

"Good one."

"Where's the rest of us?" Lily questioned looking around.

"We're the only ones who made it so far."

"Shane?" Lori asked. Rick denied with his head.

"Andrea?"

"She saved me, and then I got in the car, thinking she was behind me but..." Carol said, shaking her head.

"We saw her go down." T-Dog said.

"Patricia?"

"They got her, too. Took her right in front of me. I was..." Beth cried, tears still running down her face. "I was holdin' onto her, daddy. She just..." Hershel and Maggie hugged her closer. "What about Jimmy? Did you see Jimmy?"

"He was in the RV. It got overrun." Rick said. "You definitely saw Andrea?"

"There were walkers everywhere."

"Did you see her?" When there was no answer, Daryl volunteered:

"I'm gonna go back."

"No." Rick denied.

"We can't just leave her." Lily said, biting her lip.

"We don't even know if she's there."

"She isn't there. She isn't. She's somewhere else or she's dead. There's no way to find her." Rick said firmly.

"So we're not even gonna look for her?"

"We gotta keep moving. There have been walkers crawling all over here."

"I say head east." T-Dog suggested, nodding to himself.

"Stay off the main roads. The bigger the road, the more walkers, more assholes like this one." Daryl said, walking towards a stray walker. "I got him."

Lily did not agree with leaving Andrea behind, nevertheless Rick had a point. There was no way she would still be in the farm or near it; she had to be somewhere else. That did not stop her from feeling guilty about it though. A horn beeping broke her thoughts.

"You out?" Daryl asked Rick when the caravan stopped.

"Running on fumes." He answered, looking around the road.

"We can't stay here."

"We can't all fit in one car. We'll have to make a run for some gas in the morning." Rick proposed.

"Spend the night here?"

"Only got so many arrows." Daryl said pointing at Lily's quiver with his chin. "How you doing on ammo?"

"Not enough." Rick sighed. "All right, we'll set up a perimeter. In the morning, we'll find gas and some supplies. We'll keep pushing on."

"Glenn and I can go make a run now, try and scrounge up some gas." Maggie volunteered.

"No, we stay together. God forbid something happens and people get stranded without a car."

"Rick, we're stranded now." Glenn said and Lily saw a few heads nodding.

"I know it looks bad, we've all been through hell and worse, but at least we found each other. I wasn't sure... I really wasn't... But we did. We're together. We keep it that way. We'll find shelter somewhere. There's gotta be a place."

"Rick, look around. Okay? There's walkers everywhere. They're migrating or something." Lily bit her lip. It was unlike Glenn to be so pessimistic, but she had to agree with him, their situation was very bad.

"There's gotta be a place not just where we hole up, but that we fortify, hunker down, pull ourselves together, build a life for each other." Rick said fervently. "I know it's out there. We just have to find it."

"Even if we do find a place and we think it's safe, we can never be sure. For how long? Look what happened with the farm. We fooled ourselves into thinking that that was safe."

"We won't make that mistake again." Hershel told his daughter.

"We'll make camp tonight over there, get on the road at the break of day." Rick pointed at under a bridge.

"Does this feel right to you?" Carol asked Daryl.

"You know I found Randall, right? He had turned, but he wasn't bit." Daryl asked Rick.

"How's that possible?" Beth questioned.

"Shane killed Randall. Just like he always wanted to." Daryl said confirming Lily's thoughts.

"And then the herd got him?"

"We're all infected." Rick uttered.

"What?" Daryl questioned, frowning.

"At the CDC, Jenner told me. Whatever it is, we all carry it." Lily's heart skipped a beat.

"And you never said anything?" Carol demanded after a minute of silence.

"Would it have made a difference?"

"That is not your call." Glenn said; angrier than Lily had ever saw. "Okay, when I found out about the walkers in the barn, I told, for the good of everyone."

"Well, I thought it best that people didn't know." Rick snarled before walking away from them.

Daryl made everyone move towards where Rick had pointed before. Lily did not know what to think of having a bullet with her name on it. One way or another, she would die, and then she would turn. Someone would have to kill her again. Lily looked sideways at Daryl who was sitting by her side; she could only hope it would not be him.

"We're not safe with him..." Carol told Daryl. "Keeping something like that from us. Why do you need him? He's just gonna pull you down."

"No. Rick's done all right by me."

"You're his henchman and I'm a burden. You deserve better."

"Daryl's not just Rick's henchman. He has his trust." Lily scowled.

"What do you want?" Daryl asked Carol.

"A man of honour."

"Rick has honour." The conversations stopped when they heard something.

"What was that?"

"Could be anything. Could be a raccoon, could be a possum." Daryl said, trying to calm the escalating nerves.

"Walker."

"We need to leave. I mean, what are we waiting for?" Carol said.

"Which way?" Glenn asked.

"It came from over there." Beth pointed towards the way they came.

"The last thing we need is for everyone to be running off in the dark. We don't have the vehicles. No one's traveling on foot. Don't panic." Rick had come back.

"I'm not... I'm not sitting here, waiting for another herd to blow through."

"No one is going anywhere."

" _Do something_." Carol demanded from Rick.

" _I am doing something_!" He growled at her. "I'm keeping this group together, _alive_. I've been doing that all along, no matter what. I didn't ask for this. _I killed my best friend for you people_ , for Christ's sake!" At his words, Carl started to cry, and Lily closed her eyes. "You saw what he was like, how he pushed me, how he compromised us, how he threatened us. He staged the whole Randall thing, led me out to put a bullet in my back. He gave me no choice. He was my friend, but he came after me. My hands are clean. Maybe you people are better off without me. Go ahead. I say there's a place for us, but maybe... Maybe it's just another pipe dream. Maybe... Maybe I'm fooling myself again. Why don't you... Why don't you go and find out yourself? Send me a postcard. Go on, there's the door. You can do better? Let's see how far you get." No one moved. Not Carol, not Maggie, the ones complaining most about Rick's plan. "No takers? _Fine_. But get one thing straight... You're staying. This isn't a democracy anymore."

Lily didn't know what to think about Rick's speech. She sure would prefer to have a say if something happened and she didn't agree with Rick's way, but she knew she had no chance out there alone. Besides, Daryl and Glenn were staying, so she was too.

T-Dog had fist watch that night, so Daryl and Lily chose a corner to sleep.

"You think Rick's right? About a safe place for us?"

"Not safe, safer. We make it and keep it that way." She nodded, pressing her body closer to his for warmth. It wasn't an answer she liked but she knew any other would be a lie.

"You think Andrea's alive?"

"She's tough. Know how ta defend herself, different from the other women around here."

"You think I can't defend myself?" Lily's frown at him was missed as her face was pressed against his covered chest.

"I know ya can." He said, quietly, pressing a butterfly kiss on her hair. "But ya have me for that."

"Shh. I'm trying to sleep." Carol said from her corner. They stayed silent after that.

* * *

If there's no reviews, there will be no update.

English is not my mother tongue, if you find a mistake, please let me know.

Thank you,

Mel.


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

 **Her Angel, His Strength**

 **20 Seed**

Lily Hollins had no idea how much time had passed ever since they left the farm, only knowing it was months because of Lori's growing belly. Jumping from house to house, sometimes taking shelter in storage lockers, the winter had made them stronger, harder and hunger. Hershel had started to teach Carol and Lily a little of medicine, mostly to prepare them on how to give childbirth in case something happened. Rick had taken into hunting, Carol and Carl had become a good shot, Beth learned how to use a gun, and Lily, who now was able to hit her target every time, was taking hand to hand combat lessons from Daryl. She could only be grateful for the ballet lessons she had had her whole life, for it gave her body a fitness she wouldn't have otherwise. When she mentioned it to Daryl, he snorted, thinking Lily was joking, though when he realised she was serious, his expression morphed into one of pure disbelief and amusement. He never believed that dancing, _ballet_ in special helped one to fight.

Surviving by whatever food they could find, never sleeping more than a few hours a day, they were all tired, constantly afraid and more often than not, bound to explode with one another. Daryl had become Rick's second in command, and sometimes Lily felt the only one he truly trusted.

The winter had brought some closer, Beth and Carl a good example. It was clear to all that the boy had a crush on the sweet blond girl. Glenn and Maggie also stopped their fighting and their relationship blossomed into something so beautiful and strong, Lily knew that if the world were what it used to be, they would already be engaged. Another relationship that had grown was Daryl and Carol's. Lily knew it was silly, knew that if there was one person whose loyalty was never to be questioned was Daryl's, but sometimes, she couldn't help it, she felt jealous. She never let him on how she felt, though Glenn knew and always tried to reassure her. One bond that was broken, however, was Lori and Rick's. Her unfaithfulness to their leader with his best friend became common knowledge among them, and while Lily understood Rick, she felt he was a great deal too harsh on his wife.

Lily and Daryl's romance, contrary to Maggie and Glenn's, appeared to have been frozen in time. A few kisses were shared, sometimes as the one she initiated on the road after the fall of the farm, however never passed that. It frustrated her but she couldn't fault him. Being the second in command and the provider of meat meant that Daryl almost never had much time alone with her. Nonetheless, while they had not evolved in the physical aspect of their relationship, they achieved a completely new level of understanding of each other. They developed a type of game whereas whenever one of them shared something personal, the other had to share something in return. Daryl learnt that Lily's grandmother was the one to teach her all the different kind of plants and their respective uses, though her abilities with a bow came from a teacher at her local school. Lily discovered that Merle taught Daryl how to hunt, track and work his crossbow.

Lily loved red wine; a trait she got from her father, Daryl loved all kind of alcohol, a trait he got from his whole family. She spent a lot of her time on the hospital her father used to work, learning enough to know she would never be a doctor. He spent most of his time on the woods, knowing little of what to do with himself out of it. Neither of them believed in God, both their brothers did.

Daryl told her how he never left Georgia before and that he used to work odd jobs here and there, but mostly followed Merle who never lasted long enough in any job. He shared with her how he never finished high school and that his mother died in a fire started by her own reckless with cigarettes when he was still young. She told him she never ate meat in her own home, just the occasional barbecues and restaurants, and that she always avoided industrialised food. She could speak Spanish and knew a little of Italian, French and Portuguese, having always had a facility with languages. She had traveled a great deal, and knew many different places of the world.

He was more than ten years her senior, a fact that made him uncomfortable around her for a few days. He thought her stupid for believing in horoscope and had no idea what was his sign. He only had his brother around while growing up, and even Merle was not always around. She had a good family, but like him, had mostly her brother, Lucas, to raise her with the help of their grandmother for their parents were mostly traveling around the world because of her father's job, a medical researcher. It was only the last few years that he decided to put an end on the countless times sleeping on airport's seats in favour of a laboratory and care clinic

She loved to read, a hobby she shared with her father and brother. He never finished a book without falling asleep on the first three pages. She liked long travels by car; he did not. She liked riding his bike more, he smiled for a long time, until the night T-Dog murmured something she could not hear to him, with a suggestive smile on his face and Daryl scowled something back at him, which only made the other man laugh louder. Neither had had a serious relationship. Daryl was both relieved and nervous she would not have anyone to compare him with, would not know she could so much better than him. Lily was both incredulous and nervous, because he _would_ have someone to compare with _her_. She did not think they had the same concept of what a serious relationship entailed.

The winter ended and they were in yet another house. _It won't last long_ , Lily thought looking sadly at the dog food in Carl's hand, the lack of food would make them leave. And it did. The can was throw across the floor by Rick, making a clinging sound, attracting the walkers outside, and once again, they were on the road.

"We've got no place left to go." T-Dog said looking at the map.

"When this herd meets up with this one, we'll be cut off; we'll never make it south." Maggie agreed.

"What do you say, it's about 150 head?" Daryl questioned Glenn.

"That was last week, could be twice that now."

"This river could have delayed them. If we move fast, we might have a shot to tear right through this." Hershel tried.

"Yeah, but if this group joins with that one, they could spill out this way."

"So we're blocked." Maggie sighed.

"Only thing to do is double back at 27th and swing towards Greenville." Rick said pointing at the road on the map.

"We picked through that already, it's like we spent the winter going in circles." The frustration on T-Dog's voice worried Lily for a moment. Rick did not like it when they used that tone with him.

"Yeah, I know. I know. At Newnan, we'll push west. Haven't been through the area. We can't keep going house to house." He conceded gazing at Lori, who was waiting for them inside the car. "We need to find some place to hold up for a few weeks."

T-Dog went to refill the water, while Rick and Daryl left to hunt. Following T-Dog, Lily tried to wash herself the best she could, months of grime, blood, dirty and sweat made her disgusted with herself.

When Rick and Daryl came back with nothing, she tried to mask her disappointment, but the smile on Rick's face made her confused. Rick rarely smiled these days.

 _A prison_ , Rick said, looking at them with so much enthusiasm that slowly, they all started to smile as well. Looking at it in close range, she knew it had the potential to be everything they needed.

Rick cut the wire around the prison with pliers and all of them crossed it, standing on the alley surrounding the prison. After Glenn and Daryl closed it up, they ran to where the alley ended.

"It's perfect. If we can shut that gate, prevent more from filling the yard, we can pick off these walkers. We'll take the field by tonight." Rick said, looking over the field. Lily could easily agree with him.

"So how do we shut the gate?"

"I'll do it." Glenn volunteered, as they all knew he would. "You guys cover me."

"No, it's a suicide run." Maggie protested.

"I'm the fastest."

"No. You, Maggie and Beth draw as many as you can over there" Rick said, pointing to little ways away, "pop them through the fence. Daryl, go back to the other tower. Carol, you've become a pretty good shot, take your time, we don't have a lot of ammo to waste. Hershel, you, Lily and Carl, take this tower." Nodding, Lily followed Hershel to take her position. "I'll run for the gate."

Glenn, T-Dog, Lori, Maggie and Beth screamed to draw the walkers, killing them when they got close to the fence. Lily used her arrows to kill the walkers who got too close to Rick to save their ammo. They did not stop even when Rick closed the gates, entering inside a tower. Laughing, she continued to help kill the others, afraid to believe this was all a dream.

"Fantastic!" She heard Carol's laugh and she herself could not stop smiling. _They did it!_

After making sure all the walkers were dead, Daryl left to hunt while the rest made themselves comfortable. All of them had smiles on their faces, with the exception of Rick, who appeared to be thinking about their next move.

Daryl got them two possums, leaving soon after to take watch on an overturned car. While Carol prepared their food, Lily sat close to Glenn and Maggie, silently talking about the prison. The three agreed it was the best place for them ever since the farm, a place they could make a life.

"Mmmm… Just like mom used to make." Glenn smiled while throwing a bone away after their dinner.

"Tomorrow, we'll put all the bodies together. We want to keep them away from that water. Now, if we can dig a canal under the fence, we'll have plenty of fresh water." T-Dog commented.

"The soil is good, we could plant some seed, grow some tomatoes, cucumbers, soybeans." Hershel agreed. Looking at Rick, he said, "That's his third time around. If there was any part of it compromised, he'd have found it by now."

"This will be a good place to have the baby." Beth smiled to Lori. "Safe."

Lily could see the outlines of Carol and Daryl in the distance. She frowned, trying to figure out what they were doing, not being able to see much, she gave up. She sighed, and rested her head on Glenn's shoulder.

"Seems like they became good friends." He commented quietly for only her to hear. Nodding, Lily bit her lip, not liking the jealous feeling cursing through her body. "Good _friends_ , Lils." Sighing, she nodded again, lifting her head and pushing her recently cut bangs of her eyes. She had no idea how straight it was, but Lori promised her she knew what she was doing, and at that time, Lily had just lost her hairpin, so, irritated that a few strands kept getting on her face, she asked for the other woman's help.

"Yeah… Sometimes I think maybe too good."

"Bethy, sing Paddy Reilly for me." Hershel requested his younger daughter, interrupting their conversation. "I haven't heard that I think, since your mother was alive."

"Daddy, not that one, please." Maggie frowned.

"How about uh… Parting Glass?"

"No one wants to hear." Beth said shyly.

"Why not?" Glenn asked gently.

"I'd like to." Lily said quietly.

"Okay."

Beth had a beautiful voice. As did Maggie, Lily noted when she joined in the song. The singing had attracted Rick, Daryl and Carol back to their fire. As she listened, Lily thought that perhaps they were right; perhaps they had finally found a place where they could settle and build a life for each other.

"Beautiful." Hershel praised his daughters with a wistful smile.

"Better all turn in. I'll take watch over there, we've got a big day tomorrow." Rick said, braking Lily from her hopeful dream.

"What do you mean?" Glenn asked.

"Look, I know we're all exhausted. This was a great win. But we gotta push just a little bit more. Most of the walkers are dressed as guards or prisoners, looks like this place fell pretty early. Could mean the supplies may be intact. They have an infirmary, a commissary."

"An armoury?" Daryl commented, sitting down across from Lily.

"That would be outside the prison itself, but not too far away. Warden's offices would have info on the location. Weapons, food, medicine, this place could be a gold mine!"

"We're dangerously low on ammo. We'll run out before we make a dent." Hershel warned.

"That's why we gotta go in there. Hand to hand. After all we've been through, we can handle it, I know it. These assholes don't stand a chance."

Lily sighed and got up. Taking a blanket, she chose a spot for herself and laid down, not wanting to talk anymore. Rick was right; they would have a long day tomorrow. She felt Daryl by her side, but did not turn around. Tired, she closed her eyes and waited for the sleep to come.

"Ready?" Hershel asked the ones who would go inside the courtyard. Lily was not happy for not going. She knew Daryl had something to do with that, she was as good as Maggie was with dealing with walkers and Rick knew that.

"I can't see them." Lori said. "Can you see them?"

"Back there." Carol answered pointing with her chin. Lily tried to see for herself, but could not. They were out of sight and the rest of them had no way of knowing if they were alive.

When they reappeared, they ignored the ones safe from the other side of the fence, marching forward to the inside of the prison. As the time passed without any sign of them, Lily felt her apprehensions skyrocketing and she could see the others felt the same.

When T-Dog came for them, all smiles and a dead body on his arms, they knew all was as well as could be. Walking inside, they looked around at the grey scenario that were to become their new home.

"What do you think?" Rick asked.

"Home sweet home." Glenn answered tiredly.

"For the time being."

"It's secure?" Lori questioned still looking at the cells.

"This cell block is."

"What about the rest of the prison?"

"In the morning, we'll find the cafeteria, and the infirmary."

"We'll sleep in the cells?" Beth inquired.

"I found the keys on some guards. Daryl has a set too."

"I ain't sleeping in no cage. I'll take the perch." Daryl said when he heard his name. Lily frowned but made no comment about it. Deciding to find a place for herself, Lily tried to find a cell without blood or rests of dead people inside. Finding one that looked good, she settled her bag and bow on the floor and sat down on a bed. To her surprise, it was actually comfortable when she laid down on it.

"Ya gonna stay there?" Lily nodded, not opening her eyes. She could tell that he was still looking at her when he sighed. "Alright." When Daryl left, she felt even angrier than before, though at him or herself, she did not know.

"Rick."

"Good morning." He nodded at her.

"Good morning. Listen, I want to go with you today." He frowned but stayed silent, realising she had his ears, she continued: "I need to know just how good I am and you do too. I'll stay close and won't do anything stupid."

"All right," he acquiesced. "But you're telling Daryl." He gave her a tight smile and turned around. With a resigned sigh, she followed him.

"Not bad." Daryl said looking at their findings.

"Flashbangs, CS Triple-Chasers. Not sure how they'd work on walkers, but we'll take them." Rick nodded.

"I ain't wearin' this shit." Daryl said after picking up a helmet with walker skin on it. The gloves T-Dog had on his hands in the same condition.

"We could boil them."

"Ain't enough firewood in a whole forest, no! Besides, we've made it this far without them, right?" Lily agreed with him. It was just plain disgusting.

When Daryl noticed Lily was still around and counting her arrows he frowned at her.

"Ya ain't goin'."

"Yes, I am." When he opened his mouth again, she continued: "don't you want to know if your teachings were good enough?"

"Not like this, no." He sneered, but she ignored him, going back to work. When he sighed and pulled her aside by her elbow, she went willing. "Why are ya doin' this? Why are ya mad at me?"

"I think it's about time you stop treating me like I'm a child. Asking Rick to always leave me behind, never taking me when you go do something you think it's too dangerous for me to handle, always…" She stopped herself and breathed in noisily. "Just- just stop, ok? I don't need you fathering me around." She hadn't take two steps back to the others who were trying to pretend they weren't listening when he spun her around, kissed her roughly on her lips and growled:

"I ain't your father."

"We don't know what's in there. If something goes wrong, you could be the last man standing. I need you to handle things here." Rick was saying to Carl when Lily finally broke free from Daryl's hand and hard glare.

"Sure." Carl agreed, and Lily smiled at him, trying to calm herself down.

"Great, let's go." Lily made to follow before Daryl stopped her again.

"If ya even leave my sight, I'm gonna lock ya on your cell for the rest of the week. How's that for fathering ya around?"

They moved carefully in the corridors, dead bodies pilling on the floors. Glenn was marking their way on the walls with a spray so they could find their way back. Lily almost realised her arrow at Glenn when he frightened Maggie by accident. Every now and again, Daryl would look for her but she made a point of ignoring him, still angry with him.

Suddenly, turning around a corner, walkers started to come after them, making all the group retreat in a run. Daryl pushed her with this crossbow, making her go in front of him.

"Come on, this way!" She heard him shouting from behind her. When he grabbed her arm to stop her, she screamed. "Shh, shh! Get in here, get down."

Rick, Daryl, T-Dog, Hershel and Lily crouched low on the ground inside a room, waiting for the walkers to pass.

"Where's Glenn and Maggie?"

"We have to go back!" Hershel said, panicked.

"But which way?" They all looked at each other, no one knowing the answer. They had wandered away from the arrows Glenn had sprayed.

Opening the door carefully, they looked around trying to see Glenn or Maggie. With no dead or living in sight, they made their way silently through the corridors, calling softly:

"Maggie? Glenn?"

When Hershel screamed, they all turned around to look for him, Lily gasped aloud when she saw a walker biting into his leg. Rick shot it, though the damage was done.

" _No_! No, _daddy_! No!" They found Maggie and Glenn, but the screams had attracted the walkers, who started closing on them on both sides. Rick and Glenn took Hershel by his arms and they started to run for safety. They found a door, and opening it, they got in, depositing Hershel on the floor.

"Shut the door!" While Daryl and T-Dog closed the door with difficulty, Rick tried to save Hershel with Lily looking at his leg with terror. She saw Rick put his belt on the top of the bite on Hershel's leg, but she had no idea what they could do to stop what was about to happen.

"Hold him down!" Rick screamed, and Lily, trying to help, pressed Hershel's good leg on the floor, still not understanding Rick's plan. "Alright. Only one way to keep him alive!" She gasped when he took an axe and brought it down, cutting Hershel's leg. When the old man stopped convulsing under her hands, she looked up to see him passed out from the pain.

"Oh… He's bleeding out." Lily hadn't realised she was crying until she tried to breath but found her nose stuffy.

"Duck." Daryl suddenly said, standing up and pointing his flashlight and crossbow at five men. Five men in prison's suit. Prisoners.

"Holy shit."

* * *

If there's no reviews, there will be no update.

English is not my mother tongue, if you find a mistake, please let me know.

Thank you,

Mel.


	21. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

 **Her Angel, His Strength**

 **21 Sick**

"Who the hell are you?" Daryl took a few steps towards the prisoners.

"Who the hell are you?" Was his answer.

"He's bleeding out, we gotta go back!" Rick screamed, bringing Lily's attention back to Hershel. "Come around here. Put pressure on the knee! Hard! Hard! Push, push!" He told Maggie, who was still crying but had stopped sobbing.

"Come on out of there. Slow and steady." She heard Daryl talking.

"What happened to him?"

"He got bit."

"Bit?" One of them asked, as if they were crazy, as if he never heard of someone dying because of a bite.

Lily helped Maggie press the cloth to Hershel's stump. He was bleeding too much, they had to go back to their cell or they'd lose him.

"Don't look like no rescue team!" She heard one of them say and she almost want to laugh at him.

"If a rescue team's what you're waiting for, don't!" Glenn arrived with a table for them to carry Hershel. "Come on, we gotta go! Now! Come on, I need a hand here! One, two, three, go!"

"Holy Jesus!"

"T, the door!" Rick bellowed.

"Are you crazy? Don't open that!"

"We got this." T-Dog reassured him. The prisoners still had a disturbed look on their faces. They ran back to their cells, Lily still pressing the cloth to the stump, her tears dry on her face.

"Stop, stop!" Rick screamed, and they all looked to see the prisoners following them. They had no time for this; they had to keep going. Rick appeared to have the same opinion as Lily, and soon they were back on their run.

"He's losing too much blood!" Maggie said, looking at the cloth they still were pressing against Hershel, it was soaked in crimson red.

"Open the door! It's Hershel! Carl, _come on_!"

Entering the cellblock, the rest of them came to see what had happened. Beth instantly started to cry. They entered an open cell and hurried to put Hershel on a bed.

"He got bit." Rick told them.

"Oh, my God, he's gonna turn!" Beth cried.

"Did you cut it off?" Lori asked, as she and Carol got to work. Lily ripping the bed sheet to substitute the bloodied cloth she and Maggie had been holding.

"Yeah."

"Maybe you got it in time." Lori said, and Lily hoped she was right. They had never tried this before.

"Oh, I need bandages!" Carol cried.

"We used everything we had!" Glenn answered.

"Well, get more! _Anything_!" Her voice was desperate.

"Carl, go get the towels from the back, right next to my bed!" The boy left, for the first time listening to his mother's order without an angry face.

"Is he gonna die?" Beth asked.

"No, no, no, he's gonna be okay." Lori said, holding her close.

"You think you can stabilize him?"

"I need to keep his leg elevated. Get some pillows!" Carol ordered and Lily left to look for them.

"He's already bled through the sheets!" Maggie observed, seeming out of it.

"We can burn the wound to clot the blood. I can start a fire." Glenn suggested.

"No, the shock could kill him. It's not gonna stop the arteries from bleeding. We need to keep it dressed and let it heal on its own."

"We'll need antibiotics. You know the ones I make will not be strong enough." Lily said to Carol.

"Yeah, get them anyway, it's the only thing we have." Nodding, she left to her cell to grab her almost empty first aid kit.

"What was that?" Beth asked just as Lily got back and started to search through her findings. Giving it to Carol, she gave the woman some space to work, knowing there was too many people around.

"Prisoners, survivors." At their panicked look, Rick said, "it's alright, everybody stay put." Motioning with his head to Glenn and Lily to follow him, he led them outside. "Do not leave his side!" He told Glenn, "If he dies, you need to be there for that. Think you can do this? Maggie will be there."

"I got it." Glenn told him, after hesitating.

"I can bring T in…"

"I got it."

"Good." Rick continued walking, motioning for Lily to stand behind him. Carl closed the door behind them.

"There ain't nothin' for ya here, why dontcha go back to your own sandbox?" They heard Daryl growling at the strangers.

"Hey, hey, hey! Everyone relax, there's no need for this." Rick exclaimed, making his presence know.

"How many of you in there?" The one in the white wife beater asked, the one with the gun and the dangerous look.

"Too many for you to handle."

"You guys rob a bank or something? Why don't you take him to a hospital?" Rick, T-Dog, Daryl and Lily shared a look.

"How long have you been locked in that cafeteria?"

"Going on like ten months." He answered.

"A riot broke out. Never seen anything like it." The big one of them told them.

"Ever heard about dudes going cannibal, dying, coming back to life? Crazy."

"One guard looked out for us, locked us up in the cafeteria, told us to sit tight, threw me this piece, said he'd be right back."

"And that was 292 days ago." The big one continued.

"94 according to my…" The one with the moustache corrected.

"Shut up!"

"We were thinking that the army or the National Guard should be showing up any day now."

"There is no army." Rick told them.

"What do you mean?"

"There's no government, no hospitals, no police. It's all gone." Their faces told them that they did not believe Rick.

"For real?"

"Serious."

"What about my moms?" The big one asked, making Lily feel sorry for him. How horrible it must be, not knowing what was happening all this time.

"My kids, my old lady! Yo, you got a self-phone or something so we can call our families?" One of them asked, still not understanding their situations.

"Ya don't get it, do ya?" Daryl said standing by Lily's side.

"No phones, no computers. As far as we can see, at least half the population's been wiped out. Probably more." Rick explained.

"Ain't no way." The one who appeared to be the more dangerous of them said.

"See for yourself." And they lead them to the courtyard of the prison.

"Never thought I'd be so happy to see these fences." One of them remarked, eying the walkers outside.

"You never said. How the hell did you get in here in the first place?"

"Cut a hole in that fence over there by the guard tower." Daryl answered.

"That easy, huh?"

"Where there's a will, there's a way."

"Easy for you to say."

"So, what, is this like a disease?" The bigger man asked, poking one of the dead walkers.

"Yeah, but we're all infected."

"What do you mean infected?" The man with the moustache asked. "Like AIDS or something?"

"If I was to kill ya, shoot an arrow in your chest, ya come back as one of these things. It's gonna happen to all of us."

"Ain't no way this Robin hood cast's responsible for killing all these freaks." Lily frowned her thick eyebrows at the man, she really didn't like the way he looked at them.

"Must be fifty bodies out here." One commented, looking around.

"Where do you come from?"

"Atlanta." Rick answered.

"Where you headed?"

"For now, nowhere."

"I guess you could take that area down there near the water. Should be comfortable."

"We're using that field for crops."

"We'll help you move your gear out."

"That won't be necessary. We took out these walkers, this prison is ours." Rick told him, his face showing Lily he would do whatever was necessary to make sure they all knew this.

"You snatched the locks off our doors."

"We'll give you new locks, if that's how you want it."

"This is our prison. We were here first."

"Locked in the broom closet? We took it, set you free, it's ours, we spilled blood."

"We're moving back into our cell block."

"You'll have to get your own." Rick told him firmly.

"It is mine. I've still got personal artefacts in there, that's about as mine as it gets!" Lily wanted to know just why he was arrested, the dangerous glimmer on his eyes made her nervous.

"I ain't coming back into that cafeteria for one minute."

"There are other cell blocks." The one with the moustache said, Lily thought he was the best one among the criminals.

"Ya could leave. Try your luck out on the road." Daryl suggested.

"If these three pussies and their bitch can do all this, the least we can do is take out another cell block." Lily and T-Dog had to restrain physically Daryl at those words, his face murderous.

" _Daryl_!" She whispered sharply.

"With what?" The big one asked, and Lily was thankful as the attention moved away from her.

"Atlanta here will spot us some real weapons. Won't you, boss?"

"How stocked is that cafeteria? Must have plenty of food, five guys lasting almost a year?" Rick asked and Lily realised for the first time the truth on that.

"It sure as hell don't look like anybody's been starvin'." Daryl gave a look at the big man.

"There's only a little left."

"We'll take half. In exchange, we'll help clear out a cell block." Rick proposed.

"Didn't you hear him? There's only a little left!"

"Bet you've got more food than you've got choices." Rick told them calmly. "You pay, we'll play. We'll clear out a block for you, then you keep to it."

"Alright." The mean one agreed, though by the tone of his voice, Lily knew he was planning something. Apparently, Rick felt it too, for he got closer and threatened:

"Well, let's be clear. If we see you out here, anywhere near our people, if I so much as even catch a whiff of your scent, I will kill you."

"Deal."

Arriving at the cafeteria, T-Dog asked:

"You never tried to break out of here?"

"We tried to take the doors off. But if you make one peep in here, then those freaks will be lined up outside the door growling, trying to get in. Windows got bars on them that He-Man couldn't get through."

"Bigger than a 5'8."

"You won't find me complaining. Doing fifteen. My left leg can barely fit on one of those bunks." The big one said, making Lily smile, he didn't seem too bad. Daryl looked annoyed at her, making her wipe the smile from her face.

"Yeah, they don't call him Big Tiny for nothing."

"You're done jerking each other off? I'm getting sick of waiting back here." When they entered the pantry, Lily gasped. They could survive for months with that food.

"That's what ya call a little bit of food?" Daryl questioned.

"Goes fast."

"You can have a bag of corn, some tuna fish..." The one with the gun said, starting to point at the cans.

"We said half. That's the deal." Rick cut him off. Seeing a door, he pointed: "what's in there?"

"Don't open that." Big Tiny warned, but Rick didn't listen. The smell was so bad, Lily felt bile rise to her throat instantly. Gagging, she pressed her face to Daryl's back and tried to easy her stomach, breathing through her mouth.

"Oh, my God." She moaned, tears on her deep-set eyes from the stench. The prisoners laughed.

"You wanted to know!"

"Can't wait for my own pot to piss in." Lily groaned at that.

Daryl turned around and lifted her chin. He, too, had a smirk on his face. She grimaced at him, pushing his chest. Catching her hand, he brought it to his lips for a second, making her smile at him. Returning her smile, he kissed her forehead lightly, before starting to grab the food they would be bringing back to their cell.

"Food's here!" T-Dog announced happily, when they returned with the food.

"What you got?" Carl asked excited.

"Canned beef, canned corn, canned cans! There's a lot more where this came from!"

Lily went inside the cell to see Hershel. He was still sleeping; nevertheless, when she pressed her hand to his forehead, no fever was in sight. Lily breathed a sigh of relief.

"How's he doing?" She asked Carol.

"No fever but he's still bleeding and his pulse is weak." Lily looked at the woman and the two shared a worried glance. While Lily did not know much of medicine, she had spent more than her fair share of her childhood on a hospital, thanks to her father's work. They both knew what that meant.

"Where did you find all these things?" She pointed at the clean grazes and medications inside a bag.

"That was Carl. Crazy boy went all by himself to the infirmary."

"What? Oh, my God! Lori must had gone crazy on him." Carol smiled at her, giving Lily a look and opening her mouth to tell her what happened when Rick entered the cell.

"Lily." Looking up at Rick's voice, she nodded, and giving Hershel's hand a squeeze and a pat on Carol's shoulder, she followed Rick.

"Why do I need this, when I've got this?" The one with the gun, she learned was Thomas, asked grabbing the revolver, after seeing the weapons they had for them.

"Ya don't fire guns. Not unless your back's up against the wall. Noise attracts them, really riles them up." Daryl explained.

"We'll go in two by two. Daryl will run point with T; I'll bring up the rear with you." He pointed at the prisoner named Andrew. "Stay tight, hold formation, no matter how close the walkers get. Anyone breaks ranks, we could all go down, anyone runs off, they could get mistaken for a walker, end up with an axe to the head."

"And that's where ya aim." Daryl pipped in. "These things only go down with a head shot."

"Ain't gotta tell us how to take out a man." Lily gave Rick a worried glance. So now, they knew how Thomas had gotten himself in prison.

"They ain't men. They're something else." T-Dog claimed.

"Just remember, go for the brain." Rick warned one last time before they left.

"Man, it's too damn dark in here!" Big Tiny complained as they walked slowly through the corridors.

"Gotta hold it up high out in front of ya. Ya're gonna hear 'em before ya see 'em."

"It's coming!" Axel screamed, starting all of them.

"Shhh!"

A few walkers arrived. While Rick, T-Dog and Lily waited for Daryl's sign, the prisoners ran ahead, screaming and attacking them by aiming everywhere but the head. Lily looked at her companions, the four of them sharing shocked looks. When they finally took action and killed the walkers themselves, they made a point of showing just where to stab them for the walkers to remain dead.

"What the hell was that?" Rick hissed at prisoners when they finally managed to kill the threat. "I told you to stay on formation! I told you to aim for the head! You want this cellblock? You do as I say."

"It's gotta be the brain!" Daryl said as they encountered another walker on their way, as he shot a bolt into a walker's head, making it fall instantly. "Not the stomach, not the heart, the brain!"

"I hear you, the brain." Axel agreed. Oscar went to stab another walker in the head, effectively killing it.

"Stay in tight formation, no more prison riot crap!" Rick commanded. As more walkers walked through, they kept fighting them, this time with every one aiming for the brain. When it was finally over, they turned around and saw that one of the walkers passed through them and went for Big Tiny. Rick killed the walker, but another, coming from behind, managed to bit the prisoner's back. Lily didn't have the time to feel bad for him before flinching at the gunshots. Thomas killed the walker that bit his friend.

"I'm telling you! I don't feel anything, it's just a scratch!" He said, panicked at their faces. The prisoners didn't fully understand just what being bitten meant. That there was no way for him to be treated.

"I'm sorry man…" Rick sighed.

"I can keep fighting!"

"You cut that old guy's leg off to save his life!" Andrew said, his tone an accusation.

"Look at where the bite is!" Rick hissed back.

"I'm fine! Just… I'm fine. Look, look at me, I'm not changing into one of those things."

"Look, man, there's gotta be something we can do; we could just lock him up!"

"Quarantine him!"

"He'll die from the fever. He'll turn, and then we'll have to kill him anyway." Lily said in the gentler tone she could conjure.

"Lils' right. There's nothing we can do." Rick confirmed.

"You son of a bitch!"

"I'm al…" Big Tiny didn't finish his sentence before Thomas stabbed him in the head. He kept stabbing him, even after the man was long dead, each stab making Lily take a step back until she was beside Daryl. Grabbing his arm, her nails left moon marks on it. She couldn't look away from the scene.

When he was done, he turned to face them. His face bloodied and his eyes… Even the others prisoners seemed frightened by his eyes.

They kept walking, Lily still glued by Daryl's side.

"Ya see the look on his face?" He asked Rick.

"He makes one move…"

"Just give me a signal." Lily gulped and Daryl looked at her. Her face was pale and he knew he didn't have to ask her to stay away from the man. Lily had no plans of leaving Daryl's side while Thomas was around.

Arriving at a room with a set of two doors that lead to the cellblock, Daryl threw the keys to Thomas' feet.

"I ain't opening that."

"Yes, you are." Rick said. "If you want this cell block, you're gonna open that door. Just the one, not both of them. Because we need to control this." They could hear the walkers outside as Thomas picked the keys up.

"You bitches ready?" He asked, trying to open the door, but it didn't bulge. "I got this." He opened of both them, and the walkers walked through.

" _I said one door_!" Rick hissed.

"Shit happens!"

While shooting arrows at the walkers, Lily could see Thomas sending a walker on Rick, who fell on the ground.

"Rick!"

"T, mind the gap!" Daryl said, moving closer to their friend to stab the walker on top of him. When they were finished, Thomas said:

"He was coming at me, bro!"

"Yeah…" Rick nodded. "Yeah, I get it. I get it. Shit happens." He stared at Thomas for a few seconds, and before the later could react, Rick stabbed him on the head.

" _No_!" Andrew screamed, coming at Rick with a baseball bat, but Rick managed to kick him giving Daryl time to point at him with his crossbow.

"Easy now."

Andrew turned around and ran away, with Rick following him. The rest of them stayed in the room, T-Dog pointing a gun at Axel's head and Daryl his crossbow at Oscar's. Lily stayed glued to where she was, her eyes moving around, trying not to look at Thomas, whose head was split in two. How she wished she had stayed with the others to look after Hershel…

"We don't have no affiliation to what just happened! Tell him, Oscar!" Axel cried.

"Stop talking man." His friend shook his head at him. Lily felt sorry for them. They didn't look as bad as Thomas, not nearly as dangerous; however, she knew it would be Rick's decision.

Rick came back without Andrew, making Lily wonder what happened to him. She couldn't blame Rick if he had killed him, and the thought made her wonder if she was losing her humanity. _What would Dale think_ , she pondered.

"We didn't have nothing to do with that." Axel told Rick, whose face was sceptical.

"You didn't know? You knew! Daryl, let's end this now!" He said, pointing his gun at Axel's face while Daryl put his knife on Oscar's neck.

"Sir, _please_ , please listen to me!" Axel begged. "It was them that was bad! It wasn't us!"

"Oh, that's convenient!"

"You saw what he did to Tiny! He was my friend! _Please_! We ain't like that! I like my pharmaceuticals, but I'm no killer! Oscar here, he's a B and E and he ain't very good at it neither! We ain't the violent kind, _they_ were! _Please_! Please, I swear to God! _I wanna live_!" Lily knew then that both of them were innocent. His tone said it.

"What about you?" Rick asked Oscar, pointing his gun at his head.

"I ain't never pleaded for my life." The man said calmly. "And I ain't about to start now. So you do what you gotta do." Rick nodded and lowered his gun. At his nod, Daryl left his position and stood up, coming to Lily's side. They continued their track of the cellblock.

When they finally arrived, they pushed both prisoners inside.

"Oh man!" Axel cried when he saw the dead prisoners on the cells. "I knew these guys, they were good men."

"Let's go." Rick said.

"So you're just gonna leave us in here? Man, this is sick!"

"We're locking down the cell block. From now on, this part of the prison is yours. Take it or leave it, that was the deal."

"Ya think this is sick? Ya don't wanna know what's outside." Daryl told them.

"Consider yourselves the lucky ones." Was Rick's final words to them.

"Sorry about your friends, man." Daryl nodded at Axel, and putting his hand on Lily's lower back, pushed her gently out of there, walking back towards their block.

When they arrived, Hershel was still sleeping.

"Hershel stopped breathing, mom saved him." Carl blustered out making Lily's heart stop for a second, coming back to life at full speed. She hurried inside where everyone else was gathered.

"Still no fever." Lori said, making her feel relieved.

Slowly, as if feeling they were all together waiting for him, Hershel opened his eyes. His still human eyes. Lily smiled with everyone else, watching as Rick took the cuffs off. Looking up, she caught Daryl's gaze and, when he motioned for her to follow him; she went after taking one last look at Hershel.

"Still mad?"

"Still gonna lock me inside my cell for a week?" He laughed and brought her closer. Their kiss was all the reassurance Lily needed.

* * *

If there's no reviews, there will be no update.

English is not my mother tongue, if you find a mistake, please let me know.

Thank you,

Mel.


	22. Chapter 22

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

 **Her Angel, His Strength**

 **22 Killer Within**

All week they had been dragging the dead bodies across the field, cleaning up the cells, and taking care of Hershel's leg. Trying to organize their lives in the prison. Carol had started to open a few dead women in order to be better prepared to delivery Lori's baby. They hadn't stopped working ever since they found the prisoners.

"Alright, let's get the other cars in. We'll park 'em in the west entry of the yard." Rick said one morning, after they finished cleaning the fields.

"Good. Our vehicles camped out there look like a giant vacancy sign!" Daryl agreed.

"After that, we need to load up these corpses so we can burn them."

"It's gonna be a long day…" T-Dog sighed, and Lily agreed, though she felt happy they had that much work. It just meant they had found somewhere safe for them to take care of. _It is a good day_. She thought with a smile on her wide mouth.

"Where's Glenn and Maggie?" Carol asked after parking a car. "We could use some help."

"Up in the guard tower."

"Guard tower? They were just up there last night!"

"Glenn!" Daryl shouted. "Maggie!"

Glenn came out the tower with no shirt and buttoning his pants up. Lily made a face, Glenn was a brother to her, and she had no interest in knowing what he did with Maggie on their free time.

"Hey! What's up guys?" Everyone laughed at his sight.

"Ya comin'?"

"What?" Glenn appeared bewildered at Daryl's question, making all of them laugh harder.

"Ya comin'?" When Glenn looked at Maggie, who had made an appearance, still not understanding Daryl's meaning, he continued: "come on, we could use a hand!"

"Yeah, we'll be right down!"

"Next watch is ours." Daryl whispered in her ear while pinching her bottom, before walking away with Rick and Carol. Lily blushed but made no comment.

"Hey Rick!" T-Dog called from beside her. The two prisoners, Axel and Oscar, were outside their cellblock, walking towards them. Lily hadn't thought about them all week long, surprised to see them out of their part of the prison.

"That's close enough." Rick said to them, the laugh of before completely whipped out his face. "We had an agreement."

"Please, mister. We know that, we made a deal." Axel started just as Glenn and Maggie arrived. "But you gotta understand! We can't live in that place another minute, you follow me? All the bodies, people we knew! Blood, brains everywhere! There's ghosts!"

"Why don't ya move the bodies out?" Daryl asked with a frown.

"You should be burning them." T-Dog agreed.

"We tried! We did!" Axel cried.

"The fence is down on the far side of the prison. Every time we drag a body out, those things just line up. So hump in a body and just running back inside." Oscar made his input.

"Look! We had nothing to do with Thomas and Andrew, nothing! You trying to prove a point? You proved it, bro! We'll do whatever it takes to be a part of your group, just, please, _please_ , don't make us live in that place!" Lily felt sorry for them.

"Our deal is not negotiable. You either live in your cellblock, or you leave." Rick said, after a while, his face and words hard, but Lily knew Rick still had a good heart underneath it; he must have been struggling with that decision.

"I told you this was a waste of time." Oscar told Axel, and looking at them, he continued: "they ain't no different than the pricks who shot up our boys. You know how many friends' corpses we had to drag out this week? Just threw 'em out like… Those were good guys! Good guys who had our backs against the really bad dudes in the joint like Thomas and Andrew. Now, we've all made mistakes to get in here, chief, and I'm not gonna pretend to be a saint, but believe me… We paid our due. Enough that we would rather hit that road, than to go back into that shithole."

When Rick looked at Daryl who just shook his head, Lily sighed. Daryl walked away then, motioning with his head for the prisoners to follow him, while the rest of them walked away.

"Come on, man. Look at them, we cannot send them out there. We should give them a chance." T-Dog begged Rick.

"They don't seem that bad, Rick." Lily agreed. "They aren't like Thomas, that's for sure."

"Are you serious?" Rick asked them, just as Daryl arrived. "You want them living in a cell next to you? They'll just be waiting for a chance to grab our weapons; you want to go back to sleeping with one eye open?"

"I never stopped. Bring them into the fold. If we send them off packing, we might as well execute them ourselves." T-Dog stood his ground.

"I don't know, Axel seems a little unstable." Glenn said.

"Well, who wouldn't? Being locked up in that cafeteria for all this time, no idea what was going on just to get out there and find all his friends dead!" Lily argued.

"That's not our problem! Besides, after all we've been through? We fought so hard for all this, what if they decide to take it?" Carol said that. T-Dog and Lily were going to lose that argument, Lily knew.

"It's just been us for so long… They're strangers. I don't… It feels weird all of a sudden to have these other people around." Maggie agreed with Carol.

"You brought us in." T-Dog pointed up.

"Yeah, but you turned up with a shot boy in your arms, didn't give us a choice."

"They can't even kill walkers!" Glenn said.

"They're convicts, bottom line!"

"Those two might actually have less blood on their hands than we do."

"I get guys like this. Hell, I grew up with them. They're degenerates, but they ain't psychos. I could have been with them just as easy as I'm out here with ya guys." Daryl said, and Lily was surprised. She was sure he was against them staying.

"So you with T and me?"

"Hell no!" Well, that hope's life was short. "Let 'em take their chances out on the road, just like we did!"

"What I'm saying, Daryl-" T-Dog started.

"When I was a rookie, I arrested this kid." Rick interrupted. "Nineteen years old, wanted for stabbing his girlfriend. The kid blubbered like a baby during the interrogation, during the trial, suckered the jury. He was acquitted due to insufficient evidence, and in two weeks later shot another girl. We've been through too much. Our deal with them stands."

Glenn left to prepare a box of supplies for the prisoners. Lily couldn't say she wanted to sleep next to them, they were convicts, but she knew that they were not prepared to what was waiting them outside. She had little faith they would last long.

"Move the cars to the upper yard. Point them facing out. They'll be out of the way but ready to go if we ever need to bail." Turning to Lily and T-Dog, Rick said, "We'll give the prisoners a week's worth of supplies for the road."

"Might not last a week." T-Dog voice her opinion sombrely.

"Their choice!"

"Did they really have one?"

"Hey! Hey, whose blood would you rather have on your hands? Maggie's, Glenn's, or theirs?"

"Neither." Lily went to the fence, ready to open them for the cars.

After bringing their vehicles inside the prison, Lily along with Glenn, Rick and Daryl left the prison to gather wood for a fire to burn the dead bodies.

"Should I take her out?" Glenn asked, pointing with his gun to a walker a little way away from them.

"No. If that armoury hadn't been picked clean, we could spare the ammo." Rick said.

"I'll start making runs, the sooner, the better." Daryl suggested.

"We'll throw as much wood as we can in the dog run."

"Won't the fire attract walkers? Maybe we should bury 'em."

"It'll contaminate the soil." Lily disagreed.

"We're behind a fence. It's worth a one-time risk to get rid of the bodies for good. I don't want to be planting crops in walker-rotted soil."

"Looky here." Daryl said, making they all turn their heads on Hershel's direction. It was the first time they saw them outside his cell ever since he was bitten. Lily smiled, happily surprised.

"He is one tough son of a bitch." Glenn commented, before shouting: "alright Hershel!"

"Shh…" Daryl reprehended Glenn, showing the walkers behind the fence. "Keep your cheers down."

"Oh, man, can't we just have one good day?" He muttered, though Lily was too happy to pay him mind. The sight of Hershel out of a bed and walking around was enough to make this a good day to her.

"Oh, God. No!" She thought too son. Walkers had gotten inside the prison, and were closing in on Hershel, Lori, Carl and Beth. Lily took off running towards them, and seconds later, she heard her companions close behind her, finally seeing the danger she had.

"Get out! Get out of there!" She heard Rick screaming. "No! Lori!" The entrance of the courtyard was closed; Daryl, Rick and Lily were blocked.

"The lock! Hurry up, the lock!" Daryl screamed to Glenn who had caught up with them after closing the fence.

"Keys!" When Rick finally opened the gate, they hurried inside, Lily's bow ready, though there weren't many walkers as before. They killed them and saw Hershel and Beth behind a closed cage.

"What the hell happened?" Rick demanded.

"The gate was open!" Beth answered, still frightened.

"Where's Lori, Carl, everyone else?"

"Maggie led Lori and Carl into C block!" Hershel answered.

"And T was bit!" Lily gasped.

"Anyone else?"

"I couldn't tell."

"Stay put!" Rick ordered, coming towards where Daryl and Glenn were still taking care of a few walkers that appeared from the now closed gate.

"Those chains didn't break on their own. Someone took an axe or cutters to 'em." Glenn said, making Lily frown. Seeing Rick's glance at the prisoners, she turned to look at them. "You think they did it?"

"Who else?" Rick asked, and Lily agreed. Suddenly, an alarm went off, attracting even more walkers.

"What's that?"

"Oh! Ya gotta be kiddin' me!"

"Daryl!" Rick screamed, shooting at the speakers in the courtyard. Lily helped them, knowing the sound would bring every walker on hearing distance towards the fences.

"How the hell can this be happening?" Rick demanded from the prisoners once the alarm went down.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, it has to be the backup generators!" Oscar said, raising his hands.

"Well how do you turn those on?"

"There's three that's connected to a diesel tank, okay? Each one controls a certain part of the prison. The hatch shut them all off when the prison was overrun!"

"Can someone open up the main gates electronically, with full power?"

"Well, I only went in there a few days, I… I guess it might be possible."

"Come with us!" Rick said, grabbing Oscar, turning around and running inside the prison.

There were walkers everywhere inside the corridors, even the ones they had already cleared. They ran towards their cellblock, trying to look for the rest of the group. Rick in front of them, screaming for his family.

"We just took down five of 'em in here!"

"There were four in here, but no sign of Lori or anyone!"

"They must have been pushed back into the prison!" Glenn commented by her side. Lily still trying to understand just how this was possible. The two prisoners they had with them apparently had no idea of just what was going on and Lily felt they were telling the truth. They had just asked them to join in their group; they couldn't have planned this.

" _Somebody is playing games_!" Rick shouted in outrage and worry. "We'll split up and look for the others. Whoever gets to the generators first, shut 'em down!"

"Let's go!" Leaving the cellblock, Lily paired up with Glenn and Axel to look for the generators.

She ran with them, looking inside every room they found in the hopes of finding what they were looking for, but every time they opened a door, it would seem that walkers were the only thing they could find. Axel didn't have a weapon with him, so Lily gave him Daryl's knife while she used her bow, not liking the thought of one of them disarmed.

"Wait, wait!" Lily shouted at them before they could open another door. "It stopped."

"They must have found it! Come on, let's go back." Glenn said, running back to where they had come. When they found them, they made their way carefully in the corridors, trying to go back to where they left Hershel and Beth.

When they heard the groaning and grunting sounds they now associated with the walkers, they moved warily, readying themselves. They didn't have to worry, though, seeing there was only two walkers that were… _Oh, my God, no!_ Lily thought when she recognised the body as T-Dog. Daryl picked up a scarf on the floor, the same one that Carol was using earlier that day. Lily's eyes filled with tears, and she walked away from the scene not looking back to the others.

"Hershel!" Rick called from behind her. Lily hugged herself and looked around; the others had not come back.

"You didn't find 'em?"

"We thought maybe they came back out here."

"What about T, Carol?"

"They didn't make it." Daryl answered and Lily felt a new wave of tears in her eyes.

"That doesn't mean the others didn't. We're going back! Daryl and Glenn, you come with me…" Rick didn't finish his sentence as they heard a baby crying. Lily raised her head to see Carl, Maggie and a baby in her bloodied hands walking towards them. Maggie was crying, shaking her head and trying to, without being able, say something to Rick; Carl's face was unreadable, his eyes blank and his face pale.

Rick looked at them, dropping his axe, his face questioning, not wanting to understand what happened.

"Where is… Where is she?" Maggie shook her head, still not being able to say. When he tried to go back in the prison, she finally found her voice.

"No, Rick, don't!"

"Oh no… No! No!" Rick cried, looking at Carl, whose face was deployed of any emotion. Rick fell on the ground, his cries echoing around them.

 _"_ _It's gonna be a long day…" T-Dog sighed, and Lily agreed, though she felt happy they had that much work. It just meant they had found somewhere safe for them to take care of._ It is a good day _. She thought with a smile._

Daryl encircled her waist, pulling her to him. A sob escaped her lips.

* * *

If there's no reviews, there will be no update.

English is not my mother tongue, if you find a mistake, please let me know.

Thank you,

Mel.


	23. Chapter 23

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

 **Her Angel, His Strength**

 **23 Say the Word**

Daryl gave Lily a tight squeeze before letting go of her and walking towards Rick.

"Let me see the baby." Hershel asked.

"We're gonna feed it." Daryl said, coming closer, having given up on Rick. "We got anything a baby can eat?"

"The good news is she looks healthy. But she needs formula. And soon, or she won't survive." Hershel said, looking at them.

"No. No way. Not her. We ain't losin' nobody else. I'm goin' for a run."

"I'll back you up." Maggie said, looking desperate to get away from them.

"I'll go too." Glenn volunteered too.

"Okay, think where we're going. Beth." Daryl asked, jerking his head to the side. Lily couldn't hear what he was saying but it didn't take long as he got back soon. "Ya two get the fence. Too many pile up, we got ourselves a problem." He said to the prisoners. Walking towards Lily, he said quietly, "ya ok?" She nodded but couldn't form words. Daryl puller her head towards his and kissed her deeply. Much more deeply than he ever did in the presence of the others. Letting go of her, he said, "Glenn, Maggie, vámonos."

Rick got up then, and getting his axe, he headed inside the prison. Daryl made Glenn and Maggie go with him, and after a while, Hershel said they better get inside and clean the baby up.

Inside the cells, Lily decided she should fist take care of the bodies, so with Carl's help, they moved them away towards where the others were. It took a lot of time, considering the others bodies were away from the prison. Carl didn't say a word the whole time, and when Lily asked if he wanted to stay inside with his sister, he just shrugged.

When it was finally over, Lily and Carl made their way towards their cellblock where Beth and Hershel were. They had cleaned the baby up and, when Lily asked to hold her, she couldn't help but smile. It was so tragic that they had lost so many that day and still gained her… Lily sniffed; thinking how this sweet baby would not get the chance to meet her mother, would never meet T-Dog or Carol. It was so unfair to her and to Carl, Lily thought, eyeing the boy who was standing next to her.

Giving him the baby, Lily asked Hershel quietly:

"What happened? I mean, who did that? _Why_?"

"The other prisoner. The one who ran away." Lily's eyes widened. She thought he was dead. Nodding, she left to wash herself up. Blood and grime were all over her body and she did not want to be around the baby like that.

When the baby started to cry, they all looked at each other.

"They should be coming any time now." Beth tried to appease Carl's worry. Lily bit her lip; the baby had not eaten all day long, the poor thing. Just as the thought crossed her mind, Daryl entered the cellblock, and behind him, Maggie, Glenn, Axel and Oscar. It would seem the prisoners were part of their group now.

Lily and Beth walked over Maggie as Daryl picked the baby from Carl.

"Found some formula for her." Maggie said, putting the cans aside. Helping them prepare it, Lily smiled as she looked at Daryl, who was holding the baby.

"Oh, thank God!" Lily exclaimed, and watched as Beth handed the bottle to Daryl.

"She got a name yet?" He asked.

"Not yet." Carl answered. "But I was thinking maybe Sofia. Then there's Carol, too. And..." He sighed and Lily could feel herself tearing up. "Andrea. Amy. Jacqui. Patricia. Or... Lori. I don't know."

"Ya like that? Huh?" Daryl asked softly the little bundle on his arms. "Lil' ass-kicker. Right? That's a good name, right?" He looked around him, and everyone chuckled, even the prisoners. "Lil' ass-kicker. Ya like that, huh? Ya like that, sweetheart? Lil' ass-kicker." He continued to soothe the baby as he fed her. Lily felt, in that moment, that she had found the love of her life.

That night, Daryl slept by her side on her bed. She was happy he decided to do that, wanting to feel him close to her.

"When we discovered… When we- I was glad." She confessed, feeling terrible because of her feelings. "That it wasn't you."

"So was I." Daryl whispered, holding her more tightly. Lily felt a pang inside her. She always thought that the day she would finally find herself in love with someone, she would feel euphoric. Calm and tranquil, bursting and burning. That night, though, when she realised the depths of her feelings for Daryl, all she could feel was sorrow, grief and an agonizing fear that she or he would one day be on Rick's shoes.

* * *

If there's no reviews, there will be no update.

English is not my mother tongue, if you find a mistake, please let me know.

Thank you,

Mel.


	24. Chapter 24

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead, the cover image or am the girl on it.

 **Her Angel, His Strength**

 **24 Hounded**

Waking up was hard the next day. No one said much while Beth, Maggie and Oscar prepared breakfast, a task usually held by Lori and Carol, but everyone missed Rick's presence at the table. The brother watched his newborn baby sister carefully, with everyone else keeping close attention to the two siblings. After eating, the group scattered around, everyone choosing a task to do.

"Everybody okay?" Rick finally made his appearance, shocking everyone who were sitting eating lunch.

"Yeah, we are. What about you?"

"I cleared out the boiler block." Lily's round eyes widened. To do that all by himself was just plain madness.

"How many were there?" Daryl asked, looking as surprised as she was.

"I don't know. A dozen, two dozen. I have to get back. Just wanted to check on Carl." Rick said, patting his son's shoulder, who did not look up from his plate.

"Rick, we can handle taking out the bodies. You don't have to-" Glenn started.

"No, I do." Rick interrupted him, a glazed look on his eyes. "Everyone have a gun and a knife?" He asked Daryl.

"Yeah. We're running low on ammo, though."

"Maggie and me were planning on making a run this afternoon." Glenn tried again. "Found a phone book with some places we can hit, look for bullets and formula."

"We cleared out the generator room. Axel's there trying to fix it in case of emergency. We're gonna sweep the lower levels as well." Daryl laid out the plan for the day.

"Good, good." Rick nodded, leaving them again, never once looking at the baby on Beth's arms.

"Rick." Hershel screamed, though his only answer was the sound of the gate closing.

Maggie and Glenn left soon after that, just as Daryl, Oscar and Carl did, grabbing their weapons. Lily preferred to stay with Beth to help with the baby, since Hershel decided to go talk with Rick.

"You're good with her." She told Beth, seeing her sing a lullaby to the baby.

"Yeah, she's just precious." The blond girl smiled at her. "It's sad she won't meet her mother."

Lily sighed and looked down.

"Did you talk to Carl? About what happened?" Lily asked and when Beth shook her head, she said, "He likes you, you know that, right?" Beth blushed. "Maybe you should try… You know, it can't be good to keep that kind of things closed up."

"I… I don't know what to say to him."

"Neither do I." Lily frowned, taking the baby from Beth's arms.

When Hershel came back, the two looked at him.

"How did it go?" Lily asked quietly, not wanting to disturb the baby.

"He…" Hershel sighed heavily, sitting himself down. "He needs time." Lily nodded, understanding.

"Yeah, he should take a break." Lily said, looking down at the bundle in her arms. "In the meantime, we'll take care of this little one, right?" She smiled.

Carl and Oscar came back a while later, and when Lily looked at them, Carl told her:

"We found Carol's knife. He wanted to stay a few more minutes by himself…" She nodded and sat down next to Hershel. Daryl and Carol had become such good friends; she knew it must have been hard on him. She could not even imagine what she would do with herself if something like that ever happened to Glenn.

"I'll go see Axel. Hep him out." Oscar excused himself.

Rick came back when Beth was preparing dinner. His demeanour different from the morning. When he stopped in front of Lily, a look of wonder in his face, she knew he wanted his daughter. For the first time, the father held his baby close, not being able to tear his eyes away from her. Carl smiled his first real smile ever since her birth.

When Hershel said that it would do well for the baby to see some sunlight, they left the cellblock, feeling contended for the first time in that day.

"Hey, just- you got her?" Lily heard Rick asking Carl, passing the newborn to her brother's arms.

"Yeah."

"All right." He seemed to be looking for something outside the fences. "Okay. Lily, with me." He commanded and Lily went without questioning. When they came close to the fence, Lily finally noticed what he was seeing. There was a woman there. An alive woman who was being completely ignored by the walkers. A basket full of baby formula and a duck toy on her hands. No sign of a country girl or an Asian boy in sight.

* * *

I decided to upload this new image for you to see how I imagine Lily's physical appearance. You can't see much of her face which is one of the things that made me choose that one! I can create a new face out of my mind but have a basis where everyone can go from! I wanted to post that a while ago however, it always slipped my mind. It's been a while since I first starting writing this and I know that most of you already have your own Lily in yours mind's eyes, I just wanted to share mine!

If there's no reviews, there will be no update.

English is not my mother tongue, if you find a mistake, please let me know.

Thank you,

Mel.


	25. Chapter 25

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

 **Her Angel, His Strength**

 **25 When the Dead Come Knocking**

The mysterious woman pressed her hand to her leg, and when she raised it again, it was covered in fresh blood. The scent must have made her noticeable to the walkers, as they were finally going after her.

"Rick!" Lily screamed, going around to the alley that Carl had already opened. "Come on, we gotta help her!"

Carl, who had the key, waited until his father's sign to open the gate, though he did fire at the walkers who were too close to the now unconscious woman.

The three of them walked outside, with Lily and Carl keeping the walkers away as Rick examined the woman.

"Is she bit?" Hershel asked from inside.

"Gunshot." Rick answered, picking her up. Lily went to help, and together, they walked back inside the prison.

"Carl, get a blanket." He asked his son. "Beth, water and a towel."

"All right. Here?" Carl asked, placing the blanket on the floor. Lily helped Rick lay down the woman.

"She's not coming in the cell blocks." He said, dipping water on her. She opened her eyes, though still seemed out of it. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Steady now. All right. All right. Hey, hey, look at me. Look at me. Who are you?" She did not answer and went for her sword, which was laying a few steps away from them. Rick kicked it, sending it close to Lily's feet. She held it eyeing the woman. "Hey, it's all right. Hey. Hey. No. We're not going to hurt you unless you try something stupid first, all right?"

"Rick." They all turned at Daryl's voice. "Who the hell is this?"

"You wanna tell us your name?" When she just glared at him, Rick asked more forcefully, "you wanna tell us your name?"

When he didn't get an answer, Daryl said:

"Y'all come on in here." He motioned with his head towards their cellblock.

"Everything all right?"

"Ya're gonna wanna see this."

"Go ahead." Rick told the rest of them. "Carl, get the bag. We'll keep this safe and sound." He told the woman, taking the sword from Lily's hands. "The doors are all locked. You'll be safe here. And we can treat that." He pointed at her leg.

"I didn't ask for your help."

"Doesn't matter. Can't let you leave."

When Daryl led them to a cell, Lily could not believe her eyes. All this time they had seen more than they would like to count of the dead coming back to life, however, this time, the sight that greeted them was so much more welcome, Lily was afraid to breathe and wake up.

"Oh, God. Thank God. Thank God." It was Carol. She was alive, looking worse for wear, but alive. "Thank God. How?"

"Solitary." Daryl answered Rick's questions just as Lily pulled the woman into a tight hug. "Poor thing fought her way into a cell. Must have passed out. Dehydrated."

When she saw the baby on Beth's arms, she smiled looking at Rick, but seeing the expression on his face, her smile turned to tears. She embraced him again, this time in sorrow.

"I'm sorry. Oh, God."

Their reunion was cut short due to the woman waiting just outside, so while Hershel, Rick and Daryl went to see her, Lily went to grab something for Carol to eat.

"You have no idea… Seeing you back from the dead… I'm so glad…" She said to the shorthaired woman who was holding the baby. While her relationship with Carol was not the best one there was, Lily knew with all her heart that Carol and her were family and no amount of jealousness was going to change that.

"You can't be happier than me. I thought I was going to die there."

"You didn't." Lily said, grabbing the woman's hand. "You're here now, that's all that matters." They smiled at each other when they heard the baby coo.

"Y'all". Daryl called and the women went to see what was going on.

"That woman says Glenn and Maggie were taken."

"What?" Lily whispered looking at Rick's face, waiting for him to tell it was just a sick joke.

"Taken? By who, what do you mean?" Beth asked.

"She says there's a whole town called Woodbury ran by this guy. They have heavy artillery and guard the town on every wall."

"How do you know we can trust her?"

"This is Maggie and Glenn. Why are we even debating?" Beth asked and Lily nodded her head vigorously.

"We ain't. I'll go after them." Daryl said.

"Well, this place sounds pretty secure. You can't go alone." Rick said.

"I'll go." Lily voiced, not wanting to wait another minute.

"Me, too." Beth said.

"I'm in." The prisoners agreed. Therefore, it was decided Beth and Axel would stay, while Rick, Daryl, Oscar and Lily went with the woman Hershel was tending to Woodbury.

Grabbing everything she thought they'd need, Lily helped load the cars with the others.

"Bring them back." Hershel asked when they were ready to go.

The car ride was tense; Lily kept fidgeting with her hands, imagining what they could be doing to Glenn and Maggie.

"Why would they take them?"

"The governor is a sick man. Wants control. Pretty boy and girl walking around, looking clean and rested, he'd want them." The woman answered. Lily frowned, not understanding why this man would kidnap people just because.

"What do you think he's doing to them?" Lily asked her, biting her lip, but before she had a chance to respond, Daryl did.

"Stop ya worryin'. We'll get them back. Safe." Lily kept looking at the woman though, but she didn't respond.

"Judith." Rick said suddenly. "My daughter. Carl named her Judith." Lily smiled at him, remembering the little girl back at their home. She missed the appreciated glance Daryl sent their leader.

"What's your name?" Lily asked.

"Michonne." Rick frowned, not understanding why she had answered Lily's question but kept quiet when he did. Michonne though, understood the other woman need to distract herself from her friends' situation.

"My name's Lily." She tried to smile at the woman; however, her face seemed incapable of doing that. "And that's Rick and Daryl. This here is Oscar." Michonne nodded at her, but didn't glance at the others in the car. Daryl rolled his eyes at his girl, who didn't seem to learn her lesson in not being so friendly with strangers.

"Stop the car." The woman, after a while. "They have patrols. We're better off on foot." She said, after they exited the vehicle.

"How far? Night's coming."

"It's a mile, maybe two."

They started to walk on the direction the woman pointed.

"You know, what you did for me, for my baby, while I was... Working things out- thank you." Lily head Rick said to Daryl.

"It's what we do." She smiled to herself, not noticing the look Michonne gave her. "Rick." Daryl whispered a warning.

"Down. Get in formation. No gunfire." Walkers were ahead of them. While they battled them, more kept coming from the trees that circled the group. There were too many for them to fight. "This way." Rick pointed. "Through there. Come on."

They saw a hovel, and entering, Lily made a sound between gaging and moaning.

"Keep it down." Rick hissed.

"The smell, it's loud." Daryl defended her.

"What the hell is that?"

"It's got to be a fox or what's left of one. I guess Lassie went home."

There was a bed on the corner of the hovel. Rick carefully started to push the blanket away when a man jumped and screamed.

"Ah! Who the hell are you?" He demanded with a raised riffle.

"We don't mean any harm." Rick tried to placate him.

"Get outta my house!"

"Okay, okay, okay. We will, but we can't right now."

"Shut him up." Michonne growled looking outside the door where the walkers had gathered.

"Get out right now!" The man was screaming.

"There are walkers outside."

"I'll call the cops!" Lily frowned then, the man had lost his mind. It was a wonder how he managed to stay alive this long.

"I am a cop." Rick said. "Now I need you to lower the gun. Don't do anything rash. Everything's fine." He started to lower his gun, the others following suit. "Let's just- let's just take this nice and slow, okay? Look at me."

"Show me your badge."

"All right. It's in my pocket. Now, I'm just gonna reach down nice and slow." Rick dived for the gun, which fired, creating a hole in the door. They fought for dominance for a while, and when the man started to run towards the door, Michonne killed him with her sword.

Lily gasped looking at the man.

"Help me with the door." Rick asked after a while.

"You've gotta be kidding." For a criminal, Oscar was taking this death almost as bad as Lily was.

"He's dead. Check the back."

"It's clear!"

"One, two, three." Rick and Daryl threw the body out the front door, giving them enough time to escape the now feeding walkers.

"Hey, ya good?" Daryl asked her, once it was clear.

"Yeah. Just… Poor man." She sighed. "I don't want to be used to death, Daryl."

He nodded and stopped them for a moment to give her a kiss.

"I'm sorry, baby. Some things don't give ya a choice."

It was nighttime when they reached Woodbury. Lily looked around in wonder, asking herself just how they were going to take Glenn and Maggie back. Michonne was not kidding when she said the walls were guarded.

* * *

If there's no reviews, there will be no update.

English is not my mother tongue, if you find a mistake, please let me know.

Thank you,

Mel.


	26. Chapter 26

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

 **Her Angel, His Strength**

 **26 Made to Suffer**

They observed the wall carefully, trying to find somewhere they could get in, with no success when Michonne left them.

"Hey. Hey! Hey! Damn it." Rick cursed the woman. "All right, we need to downsize."

"Ain't no way we're gonna check in all them buildings, not with all them guards there."

"All right, let's go." Rick agreed.

They all turned around with their guns ready at the sound of someone approaching them from behind. It was Michonne. Gesturing with her head, they followed her as she led them to an unguarded part of the town they could get in. They jumped the window of a house, and, after checking the rooms, Rick asked:

"This is where you were held?"

"I was questioned."

"Any idea where else they could be?" Daryl asked.

"I thought you said there was a curfew." Rick accused watching out the window as people walked around the street.

"The street is packed during the day. Those are stragglers."

"If anyone comes in here, we're sittin' ducks." Daryl pointed out to Rick.

"We gotta move."

"They could be in his apartment." Michonne suggested.

"Yeah? What if they ain't?" Daryl challenged her.

"Then we'll look somewhere else."

"You said you could help us."

"I'm doing what I can." She stressed.

"Then where in the hell are they?" Oscar demanded, and Rick motioned for them to join him.

"If this goes south, we're cutting her loose." Lily frowned at his words.

"Why?"

"You think she's leading us into a trap?" Oscar asked.

"She wasn't with them when they got Glenn and Maggie. They shot at her, Rick!" Lily pointed out.

"Right now it's the blind leading the blind." Rick told her firmly and she scowled at him.

"Let's split up." Daryl suggested when they heard someone knocking on the door. They hid, panicked at being found so soon.

"I know you're in here. I saw you moving from outside." A man said, walking inside the house. "All right, now. You're not supposed to be in here and you know it. Who's in here?"

Rick and Daryl got out from their hiding places, knocking the man on his knee. Pressing his gun on his face, Rick demanded:

"Hands behind your back. Zip tie him. Where are our people?"

"I don't know." The man said confused and scared.

"You are holding some of our people. Where the hell are they?"

"I don't know." He repeated.

"Open your mouth." Rick stuck a sock on his mouth and Daryl knocked him out. The sound of gunshots nearby startled them all.

"That must be them, let's go!" Rick hissed, and ran towards where the sounds were heard. The corridors were confusing, making it easy for them to get lost. They had just turned a corner when they saw someone. Motioning for them to get down, they waited for Rick's sign. At his nod, Daryl and Oscar launched two bomb gas at them.

In the confusion, they got Maggie and Glenn, who was so hurt he could barely walk. With Michonne's help, they found a house to hide.

"Come on. Inside, quick!"

"Ain't no way out back here." Daryl said after looking around. Lily kneeled down by Glenn's side, taking his head in her hands.

"Oh, Glenn, what did they do to you?" He shook his head away, wincing.

"I'm fine."

"How bad are you hurt?"

"I'll be all right." Glenn answered, though it was easy to see he was straining himself.

"Where's that woman?" Maggie asked.

"She was right behind us." Rick answered, realising Michonne was not with them.

"Maybe she was spotted. Want me to go look for her?"

"No. We gotta get them out of here. She's on her own."

"Daryl," Glenn called, "this was Merle." Lily gasped. Looking at her, he continued: "it was. He did this." Lily kept denying with her head, not wanting to believe it.

"Ya saw him?" Daryl asked, coming to stand by them.

"Face to face. Threw a walker at me. He was gonna execute us."

"S- So my brother's this governor?" Looking as shocked as Lily.

"No, it's somebody else." Maggie answered. "Your brother's his lieutenant or something."

"Does he know I'm still with ya?"

"He does now." Turning to Rick, Glenn apologised, "Rick, I'm sorry. We told him where the prison was. We couldn't hold out."

"Don't. No need to apologize." Rick told him sternly. "They're gonna be looking for us. We have to get back. Can you walk? We got a car a few miles out."

"I'm good." Lily helped Maggie get Glenn back to his feet.

"Hey, if Merle's around, I need to see him."

"Not now. We're in hostile territory." Rick denied.

"He's my brother. I ain't-"

"Look at what he did!" Rick pointed to Glenn's bloodied and swollen face. "Look, we gotta- we gotta get out of here now."

"Maybe I can talk to him. Maybe I can work something out." Daryl pleaded.

"No, no, no. You're not thinking straight." Rick started to whisper something to Daryl, who did not look happy, but Lily saw him acquiescence. She wanted to find Merle too, thought it would have to wait. Glenn and Maggie needed them more right now. They would have to come back for Merle later.

While the others checked out the streets, Rick came closer to Lily.

"Listen what's waiting outside. We will have to shoot at them. Are you ready for that?" Lily looked at Glenn's face, blood all over him; she looked at the frightened eyes on Maggie's face. She nodded. "Alright, let's go."

"Stay close." Daryl asked her.

"On three. Stay tight. One, two, three." They opened the doors and threw two more grenades at the streets. "Let's go!"

Running, they tried to take cover, but as soon as they emerged, the shooting started. Lily tried not to think at whom she was shooting, she just kept thinking of helping Glenn out of that place.

"Go! Get cover! Get there."

"Go, go, go!" Daryl's voice resounded in the chaos.

"Any grenades left?" Rick asked as they took shelter by a building.

"Uh-huh."

"Get 'em ready."

"You guys go ahead. I'm gonna lay down some cover fire." Daryl said.

" _No_!" Lily hissed.

"No, we gotta stay together." Maggie agreed.

"Too hairy. I'll be right behind ya." Looking at Lily, he planted a kiss on her head. "I'll be right behind _ya_." She didn't have a chance to deny, as he launched the grenade on the street, Glenn, grabbing her hand, pulled her along.

When they made to the border, Lily helped Glenn up the steps towards the wall while Maggie and Oscar covered them.

"Ah!" Lily looked back to see Oscar on the ground, a gunshot on his chest. "No! Rick! Rick!" Rick was walking towards a fallen man, Lily could not see whom it was, but they had to move now.

"Maggie! Come on! Maggie!" She shouted, laying Glenn down and holding her hand to the other woman. " _Daryl_!" She yowled into the night. She did not hear an answer.

They took cover on the trees when Rick finally got out from the city. Lily's gaze fixed on the wall as they waited for Daryl. She never knew that being in love with someone could increase her stress level so much.

"Come on, Daryl." She prayed just when Michonne reappeared.

"Where the hell were you?" Rick snarled at her, his and Maggie's gun at ready. "Put your hands up. Turn around. Turn around. Get what you came for?" He asked after he got her sword from her.

"Where are the rest of your people?"

"They got Oscar. Daryl is missing."

"You didn't see him?" Lily asked, a panicked look on her face. Michonne denied with her head.

"If anything happens to him-" Rick started.

"I brought you here to save them."

"Thanks for the help." He said, his tone mocking.

"You'll need help to get them back to the prison or to go back in there for Daryl." She tried. "Either way, you need me."

"Rick. Look at her face!" Lily growled. "Why's there blood on her? Huh? Think that besides trying to kill us, they had time to stage all this? That she's one of them? _We need to get Daryl_. She's help! Let her help."

* * *

If there's no reviews, there will be no update.

English is not my mother tongue, if you find a mistake, please let me know.

Thank you,

Mel.


	27. Chapter 27

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

 **Her Angel, His Strength**

 **27 The Suicide King**

" _Kill 'em! Kill 'em! Kill 'em! Kill 'em!_ " She could hear them, but she could not wrap her mind around the fact that they wanted Merle and Daryl to kill each other. _The guy's a completely psycho._ Lily thought, looking as Merle and Daryl eyed each other. This was not the reunion they were expecting.

"I asked you where your loyalties lie. You said here. Well, prove it. Prove it to us all. Brother against brother." The crowd cheered on. "Winner goes free. Fight to the death."

"Y'all know me." Merle said to the people. "I'm gonna do whatever I got to do to prove..." He punched Daryl and Lily's heart stopped beating. _What are you doing_? "That my loyalty is to this town!" She almost screamed if not for Maggie's hand on her arm, asking without question for her to keep quiet. Merle sent blow after blow at his brother who took a while to start returning it.

A few men had brought walkers on them, closing the brothers in a tight circle. When the two of them got up, back to back, Lily felt relief wash over her. _Merle's as loyal to Daryl as Daryl's to him, do not doubt him._

When a walker got too close to Daryl, Lily fired, giving away their position. Rick dropped the grenades as Maggie and Lily shot the people and walkers that were trying to kill the brothers. Lily tried to no hit any civilian, though in the chaos, she could not be too sure.

"Daryl." Rick screamed at him, trying to guide him through the sound of his voice. "Let's go."

"This way." Merle shouted, at them, not waiting to see if they followed him.

"You're not going anywhere with us." Rick said, catching up with him.

"Ya really want to do this now?" He asked.

"Come on, man. Rick, come on. We've got to go." Daryl pleaded, going after his brother. They followed Merle behind a fence, just to see him killing a walker as more crawled around him.

"A little help would be nice." Merle said, causing all of them to start killing the walkers as well.

"We ain't got time for this." Daryl said.

"Let's go." Rick agreed.

Their walk back was tense, with Rick shooting Merle looks that said plenty. He was not welcome on their group, which Lily thought unfair, considering Merle was part of the group even before Rick came along.

"Sweetcheecks," he greeted Lily, walking closer to her. "Ya lookin' better than I remember. Who'd guess the roles would reverse, huh?"

"Think I can handle myself now?" She asked, remembering the time he asked her to punch him. Smiling at him, she said, "I'm glad you're alive, Merle."

"What did I tell ya? Only a Dixon can-"

"Kill a Dixon, yeah! I remember." She finished, her hand squeezing his arm.

"Shh. Quiet now." Rick said, looking utterly annoyed at Lily.

"Glenn!" Rick called when they finally got close to where they had parked the car.

"Rick. Oh, thank God."

"Now we got a problem here. I need you to back up."

"What the hell is he doing here?" Glenn shouted in outrage, pulling his gun at Merle. Michonne followed suit, drawing her sword.

"Put it down!" Rick yelled at her.

"He tried to kill me!" She snarled, her eyes fixed on Merle. Lily stayed where she was, her, Daryl and Rick the only ones who weren't drawing their weapons.

"If it wasn't for him-"

"He helped us get out of there." Daryl interrupted.

"Yeah, right after he beat the shit out of you." Maggie accused.

"Hey, we both took our licks, man." Merle said, his face amused.

"Jackass." Daryl turned around to look at his brother.

"Hey, shut up."

"Enough! Hey, hey, relax! Put that down now!" Rick required them, his last warning towards Michonne, trying to get things under control.

"Get that thing out of my face!" Daryl demanded from Glenn, pushing away the weapon that Glenn was holding against Merle.

"Man, look like ya've gone native, brother."

" _Merle_!" Lily scowled at him. It would seem she had forgotten what a mouth Merle had.

"No more than ya hangin' out with that psycho back there." Daryl retorted.

"Oh, yeah, man. He is a charmer; I got to tell ya that. Been puttin' the wood to your girlfriend Andrea." He said, looking at Michonne and licking his lips in an obscene gesture. Lily's eye widened. _Andrea_? "Big time, baby."

"What? Andrea's in Woodbury?" Glenn asked in surprise.

"Right next to the Governor." Daryl confirmed. Michonne went for Merle's head.

"I told you to drop that!" Rick snarled. "You know Andrea? Hey, do you know Andrea?"

"Yep, she does. Her and blondie spent all winter cuddling up in the forest. Mm-mmm-mmm." Merle stated. "Yeah. My Nubian queen here had two pet walkers. No arms, cut off the jaws, kept them in chains. Kind of ironic now that I think about it."

" _Merle_!" Lily repeated.

"Shut up, bro."

"Hey, man, we snagged them out of the woods. Andrea was close to dying." He told them.

"Is that why she's with him?"

"Yeah. Snug as two little bugs. So what ya gonna do now, Sheriff, huh? Surrounded by a bunch of liars, thugs, and cowards-"

"Shut up!" Glenn screamed.

"Oh, man, look at this. Pathetic. All these guns and no bullets in them."

"Merle, shut up!" This time, it was Daryl.

"Shut up yourself! Bunch of pussies ya roll-" He didn't finish his sentence as Rick knocked him unconscious with his gun.

"Asshole." Daryl nodded in appreciation to Rick.

They walked away to discuss what they were going to do with both Michonne and Merle.

"It won't work." Rick shook his head at Daryl.

"It's gotta."

"It'll stir things up."

"Look, the Governor is probably on the way to the prison right now. Merle knows how he thinks and we could use the muscle." Daryl tried.

"I'm not having him at the prison." Maggie denied.

"Do you really want him sleeping in the same cell block as Carol or Beth?" Lily frowned at these words.

"He ain't a rapist."

"Well, his buddy is." Lily gasped. She looked at Maggie who shook her head no at her, but Lily didn't know if she was saying 'not now' or 'no, I wasn't'. Either thought wasn't comforting.

"They ain't buddies no more. Not after last night."

"There's no way Merle's gonna live there without putting everyone at each other's throats." Rick tried to reason.

"Merle is not _that_ bad." Rick looked at Lily as if she had lost her mind. "He isn't! Neither is Michonne." That riled Daryl up.

"Look! Look what he did, Lil. He took us, tried to kill me!" Glenn faced her.

"So ya're gonna cut Merle loose and bring the last samurai home with us?"

"She's not coming back." Rick placated him.

"She's not in a state to be on her own." Maggie frowned at him.

"She did bring you guys to us." Glenn defended.

"And then ditched us."

"At least let my dad stitch her up."

"She's too unpredictable." Rick shook his head.

"That's right. We don't know who she is. But Merle, Merle's blood."

"No, Merle is your blood. My blood, my family is standing right here and waiting for us back at the prison." Glenn hissed at Daryl.

"And you're part of that family. But he's not. He's not." Rick said.

"Man, y'all don't know. Fine. We'll fend for ourselves."

"That's not what I was saying."

"No him, no me."

"Daryl?" Lily turned to him, her voice meek; Daryl could not meet her eyes, not wanting to bring himself to ask her to leave the safety of the prison to follow him and his asshole of a brother to the road again. _Even if Merle is not that much of an asshole to her._

"Daryl, you don't have to do that."

"It was always Merle and I before this."

"You serious? You're just gonna leave like that?"

"You'd do the same thing."

"What do you want us to tell Carol? What about _her_?" Rick asked, pointing at Lily.

" _I_ am going with Daryl." Lily said, not really grasping just what was happening, but she was sure she would follow Daryl anywhere he went.

"Carol'll understand. Ya sure about that?" He asked Lily. "We got nothing. No food, no-"

"It was the plain, right? Before all this." He nodded, not wanting to be apart from her either. It was unfair of him to ask her to go with him, but since she decided on her own, Daryl tried to tell himself he could take care of her, that he could, _and would_ , make sure she was fed, and warm and safe. _She was his, after all. He found her._

"Say good-bye to your pop for me." He told Maggie, walking away.

"Lily, what the hell?" Glenn hissed at her, his face furious.

"Tell me you would do any different if you were me."

" _I_ wouldn't have to! Y'all like _Beth_ just fine!"

"I'm sorry Glenn." She tried to give him a hug, but his body was tense and he didn't return it. "It's Daryl. We both know he'll come back." She whispered in his ear, trying to assure both him and herself. She gave Maggie a reassuring smile and received a begging look in return.

"Lily, don't do this. Please." She just shook her head sadly at him, and walked away, after finally managing to escape Glenn's tight grip on her arm, ignoring his words. "Lily, _stop_. _Lily_!"

"Daryl!" Rick called, walking after him with Lily. "Hey. Hey. There's got to be another way."

"Don't ask me to leave him. I already did that once."

"We started something last night. You realize that, huh?"

"No him, no me. That's all I can say." He finalised it, taking their bags from the car. "Take care of yourself. Take care of lil ass-kicker. Carl. He's one tough kid." They walked over to where Merle was standing.

"Daryl! _Lily_!"

"Come on, bro. Ya followin', sweetcheeks?"

"It was you who asked if I would, wasn't it?"

They walked adrift for a while; Merle hadn't stop talking what he thought of their group for one second. ' _That's what they do to ya; leave ya behind.' 'Ain't worth our presence, anyway.' 'Told ya, baby brother.' 'We don't need them, ya'll see.'_

"This governor, what's he like?" Lily asked, wanting a break from his badmouthing their friends.

"Got a way with words, I'll tell ya. Could make ya tell all your big dark secrets in one conversation."

"How did you wind up with him?"

"He found me, wanderin' the streets, all by maself. Had almost passed out from blood loss. Took me in, took care of me, patched me up pretty good" He motioned the tourniquet on his arm.

"But… You're saying he's not that bad?" Her tone showed her disbelief of her own words.

"Didn't say that, did I? Nah, he saw the potential in me. Needed someone like me. Ohh yeah, babe, he knew ol' Merle had the balls for the job." Lily frowned, not wanting to know just what that job was.

"Do you think he'll go after the prison?" She asked quietly.

"Know he will. Wanted it even before y'all came around playin' the rescue team for the china man and his girl."

"Why?" Lily was trying hard not to think about Glenn or the others, not liking the feeling inside her that said it was a mistake to leave without thinking it through.

"Cause he can. He-"

"Shut your traps. Ya scaring all the game, don't ya wanna eat tonight?" Daryl scowled.

"How about you go over there, while me and sweetcheeks here go the other way around and meet ya later?" Daryl looked at her, his doubtful expression was clear. Lily smiled and nodded, walking towards Merle. Daryl appeared to be deep in thought before he agreed, walked over her and kissed her deeply on the mouth. Merle's laughter didn't make him break the kiss.

Once Daryl went away without a look back, Merle whistled.

"Thought he'd be pissin' all over ya afterwards."

"What?"

"Don't tell me ya didn't know this was his way of markin' his territory?"

"Daryl's not… He didn't…"

"So, ya sweet on my brother?"

"I… Yeah?" She blushed, not wanting to have that conversation with Daryl's older brother.

"Oh, dontcha go blushing around me! I knew it even before ya!"

"What do you mean?"

"I saw it. The way he looked at ya in Atlanta. There's not many things my baby brother can hide from me, sweetcheeks." Lily smiled. Merle's tone was rude, but she could see the affection underneath it. She almost asked him if he thought Daryl could ever love her back. "So, ya doin' him?"

"What! Merle! No! It's not like that."

"Ya tellin' me ya've been holdin' on him all this damn time?"

"I'm not- I'm not holding on him." She said, uncomfortable.

"Ohh ho ho! I knew he lacked balls, but didn't know just how-"

"It's not like that. I was… You know." She fidget with her bow, looking away from him. "I never…"

"Ya _virgin_?" Merle's face was so shocked Lily did not know if she wanted to laugh or cry.

"Was. You know- you know what they did to me." She whispered, and Merle's face turned dark, understating her words.

"Ya still are." Lily shrugged, unsure. They did not talk much after that, not knowing what to say. "So, ya here for him? Must be pretty serious, huh?"

"As much as I'm here for you." His scoff made her serious. Stopping, Lily grabbed his arm. "I haven't forgotten, Merle. They all did, _Glenn_ did. But I could never- You were there, Merle. You _saw_ me. Could have denied, walked away and pretended you never found me. I wouldn't have blamed you, you know? Another mouth to feed, another person without any skills to look after… I was as good as dead. I was _wishing_ I were. I remember praying you two were there to kill me. You were there as much as Daryl was."

He nodded, not looking at her, and finally he decided to do some serious hunting, requesting her silence. He did not have any luck, though, so they set off to find Daryl, hoping he had found something for them.

"What did you do? To them?"

"Do ya wanna know? Nothing they didn't deserve, sweetcheeks. Stop thinkin' about that. It's done and over and they're rottin' right now while ya got to enjoy this handsome company." She nodded and dropped the subject. It obviously made even Merle uncomfortable.

Daryl only had gotten one squirrel, making their dinner very poor in comparison to the food in the prison; nonetheless, Lily was grateful. She should stop thinking like that, it was done and there was no point crying over it.

Lily went to sleep early that night. She was completely spent, their day was so full of pain and loss, and she just wanted it to be over.

"Did ya know it?" Merle asked, his voice low so he wouldn't wake their companion up.

"No." Daryl didn't have the need to ask what his brother meant. They both knew he was within hearing distance when Lily and Merle were talking earlier as he did not feel too comfortable with leaving her alone with his brother.

"Ya didn't know and still made no move on her? Afraid she'll see ya have a pussy too?"

"She has nightmares, asshole." Daryl snarled. "Almost every night. Don't need to be a genius to know what about. I'm waitin'." Merle scoffed.

"Better stop. She's a woman. Ya wait too much; she'll star gettin' ideas of ya not wantin' it." Daryl frowned, tuning Merle out and mulling what he said over his head. He sighed looking at Lily's asleep form and got up to lay down next to her, ignoring his brother presence and chatter.

* * *

If there's no reviews, there will be no update.

English is not my mother tongue, if you find a mistake, please let me know.

Thank you,

Mel.


	28. Chapter 28

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

 **Her Angel, His Strength**

 **28 Home**

Lily didn't know what she expected when she decided to follow the Dixon's brothers, but this wasn't it. Ever since she woke up, they hadn't stopped antagonizing one another. She felt they were walking in circles, not knowing what to do next.

"There ain't nothing out here but mosquitoes and ants." Daryl proclaimed after an entire day of walking without rest.

"Patience, little brother." Was Merle's reply, not sounding concerned at all. Lily tuned them off, _again_. They had had the same talk for the last two hours, and she felt a kind of exhaustion she had only felt before when winter was there and the group had to keep walking with little to no food or rest. "They're all dead, makes no difference." Now, _that_ caught her attention.

"How can you be so sure?" Daryl asked when she stopped dead on her track.

"Right about now he's probably hosting a housewarming party where's he gonna bury what's left of your pals." Merle answered, apparently not bothered at all with the possibility of the demise of all of their friends. "Let's hook some fish."

"Daryl?" Lily called, quietly as they proceeded to follow Merle. "You think he is right?" He did.

"Even if he is, they are strong. They can take care of themselves." He didn't think they could.

"Yeah… But there's a baby now. And Hershel…"

"They'll be fine, baby." At least, he hoped. Nonetheless, Daryl knew Lily was right to worry. They were strong; they had gone through enough shit not to be, however, the numbers, the gun power were not on their group's favour. _Still, Merle was blood. He made the right call_ , Daryl thought, looking sideways at Lily who was biting her lower lip, seeming as troubled as he felt.

They found no river, they had had nothing to eat since their miserable squirrel the night before, they had not stopped walking all day, and _they_ hadn't stooped their bickering with each other for a second. Lily didn't know how much more of this she could take.

"Could you two stop this, just- please! Stop this" Lily screeched, causing the brothers to glance at her surprised, the girl truly wasn't one to speak up. "God, just for a moment, could both of you act your age? You!" She pointed at Merle, whose mouth was opened, forming a perfect 'o' shape. "Stop trying to make fun of everything! This is _not_ , in any shape of form, funny! It's actually terrible, terrible sad! We have no food, no water and no roof! You!" She turned to Daryl, who arched an eyebrow, fighting back a smirk, "Stop antagonising your brother! You know how he's like, so why the hell don't you stop pestering him?!" Lily was panting after her rant. She didn't feel any better, though, as she could see from the expression on Merle's face that he thought her no more dangerous than an angry kitten wrestling a yarn, and Daryl… Now, she didn't know what the look on his face was about, but she could tell he wasn't taking her seriously either. She was about to open her mouth to start again when she heard it. Titling her head, she could barely make the sound out, but she couldn't chance, could she? There was a baby, crying.

"Lily? Where ya- Hey! Lily!" She could hear Daryl following her, but she didn't stop running. He would catch up with her, anyway, and she didn't want to think what could happen to the baby if they arrived too late. She had just seen the family at the car when a hand grabbing her arm jerked her back, roughly bringing her at a stop. "What the h-" As soon as Daryl saw the family, though, he swore to himself and ran over them, crossbow at ready, ignoring Merle's complains. Lily followed his example and made her way over.

The woman and the baby were screaming hysterically, Merle was Merle, and the man thought they were after his family.

"That ain't no way to say thank you." Not that he was in the wrong, seeing how Merle was hovering over their car as soon as they killed the walkers.

"We don't have anything." The man insisted.

"Merle, what the hell?! Stop this!" Lily hissed, walking towards him but being stopped by Daryl, who blocked her way with his body.

"Get out of the car." He barked at his older brother, pointing his crossbow at him. It was a few tense moments afterwards, and the family finally left, leaving Lily to deal with the two. The discussion between them was taking a more personal tone, though, so Lily thought better to stay out of it.

"Oh, otherwise you would have just left them to the biters, then?" Merle asked, irony bittering his tone.

"Man, I went back for you!" Daryl twisted around to face him, his voice as hard as his tensed muscled on his back. "Ya weren't there. I didn't cut off your hand, neither. You did that! Way before they locked ya up on that roof, you asked for it."

"Ya know- ya know what's funny to me?" Merle responded narrowing his eyes. "You and Sheriff Rick are like this now." He crossed his point and middle finger. "Right? I bet ya a penny and a fiddle of gold that ya never told him that we were plannin' on robbin' that camp blind." Lily's eyes were as wide as saucers. Even she had no idea of that, though thinking about it, it wasn't so surprising. When all of this started, they were planning to leave the group, and between the two (or three, you counted her) of them, they didn't have much.

"It didn't happen." Daryl hissed, eyes hard, not once chancing a glance at her.

"Yeah, it didn't 'cause I wasn't there to help ya."

"What, like when we were kids, huh? Who left who then?" Lily bit her lower lip, not knowing what to do. They had much more personal troubles than she first thought.

"Is that why I lost my hand?" Merle asked, incredulous.

"You lost your hand 'cause ya're a simpleminded piece of shit." Daryl glowed, turning his back on the conversation and starting to walk away. He didn't take more than two steps before Merle caught a hold of his shirt and yanked him back. But doing so ripped the fabric apart, revealing to Merle and Lily cross scissor scars that had never healed properly. Lily gasped but the sound was lost on the shocked brothers.

"I didn't know he was-" Merle seemed at a loss, his face lost all the rage he felt before.

"Yeah, he did." Daryl spit, not seeming to care or believe in Merle's words. "He did the same to ya, that's why ya left first."

"I had to, man. I would have killed him otherwise." Daryl scoffed and taking a glimpse of a stunned Lily who was standing a few feet to his side, he grabbed her hand and turned around, dragging her with him. She was too astounded to walk normally, so her first steps had her tripping on the woods. It didn't seem to faze Daryl, who just tightened his grip on her.

"Where ya goin'?" Merle shouted at them.

"Back where I belong." Lily's heart skipped a beat. The prison!

"I can't go with ya. I tried to kill that black bitch. Damn near killed the Chinese kid."

"He's Korean!" Daryl looked back, and Lily would have smiled if she wasn't feeling so nervous.

"Whatever!" Merle spitted, sounding so much like his brother once had. "I just can't go with ya."

"Ya know, I may be the one walking away but ya're the one that's leavin'- _again_." And they walked. Daryl's lips were a thin line and he didn't even seem to notice Lily's presence despite the hand that was firmly holding her own. A few meters ahead, they heard the sound of Merle's steps; nonetheless, Daryl didn't turn around to greet his brother. Lily knew things would be weird between them for a while, but the two had finally talked about things that had bothered them for so long; she knew they wouldn't stay like that.

She gave Daryl's hand a squeeze, startling him. She was right; he had forgotten she was there. His eyes were bright and didn't hold the anger from before. Now, looking at her, she thought she saw shame reflecting on the blue. She gave him a faint smile, squeezing him again. He nodded and sighed, turning back to their track.

It wasn't an hour before they reached the prison. And when they did, they ran towards it, not even thinking before acting. There were walkers everywhere, Rick was surrounded and the gates were ripped apart. The three newcomers made a quick work of despatching the dead around the sheriff, but nothing could be done to their gate. Running, they helped Rick back inside the prison.

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If there are no reviews, there will be no update.

English is not my mother tongue, if you find a mistake, please let me know.

Thank you,

Mel.


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